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Evaluation ViewAttendees 2

Dissemination & Implementation Science
Session Type:: Symposia

Symposium 71 - Socio-Ecological Perspectives on Assessing and Intervening on Barriers to Psychological Treatment Among Diverse Adolescents and Young Adults

Sunday, November 23, 2025
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CST
Location: Empire C, Level 2
CE: 1

Keywords: Adolescents, College Students, Mental Health Disparities
Level of Familiarity: All
Recommended Readings: Mongelli, F., Georgakopoulos, P., & Pato, M. T. (2020). Challenges and opportunities to meet the mental health needs of underserved and disenfranchised populations in the United States. Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing), 18(1), 16–24. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20190028,   Garney, W., Wilson, K., Ajayi, K. V., Panjwani, S., Love, S. M., Flores, S., Garcia, K., & Esquivel, C. (2021). Social-ecological barriers to access to healthcare for adolescents: A scoping review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(8), 4138. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18084138,   Benton, T.D., Boyd, R.C., Njoroge, W.F. (2021). Addressing the global crisis of child and adolescent mental health. JAMA Pediatrics,175(11),1108–1110. doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.2479,   ,  

Diverse adolescents and young adults are disproportionately vulnerable to experiencing a range of adverse psychological concerns but are less likely to access and engage in existing evidence-based interventions (EBIs). There is substantial evidence that diverse youth face profound socio-ecological barriers to accessing and engaging in EBIs across individual, interpersonal, and structural levels. However, there are numerous unanswered questions regarding best practices to assessing and, ultimately, intervening on barriers to EBIs. This symposium highlights four research projects that utilize different methodological approaches to assessing and intervening on multi-level barriers to EBI access and engagement among diverse youth and young adults. First, we will present an epidemiological approach by discussing results of a secondary data analysis of a large, nationally representative, study to assess differences in exposure to and impact of socio-ecological barriers to psychological treatment access across college students. Second, we will present the pilot results of a novel mixed-methods approach to assessing socio-ecological barriers to engagement in a psychological intervention embedded in a primary care setting. Third, we will present a qualitative community-based participatory research approach that identified intervention barriers and strategies to promote treatment engagement among legal system-involved youth. Finally, we will present the results of a pilot trial examining the feasibility, acceptability, and implementation of a novel career development program for minoritized youth which aimed to improve access to treatment by bolstering and diversifying the mental healthcare workforce. Our discussant will highlight the differences in these methodological approaches and offer future directions in research examining and intervening on socio-ecological barriers to EBI access and engagement among diverse populations. As a result of attending this symposium, it is expected that audience members will have a strong understanding of the myriad barriers across socio-ecological levels that diverse youth and young adults face when it comes to accessing and engaging in EBIs, as well as promising avenues of intervention.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Attendees will describe four disparate methological approaches to assessing and intervening on socio-ecological barriers to treatment.
  2. Describe current barriers to psychological treatment access and engagement for diverse youth and young adults.
  3. Attendees will have an understanding of future directions in utilizing socio-ecological approaches to improve psychological treatment access.

Presentations:

  • 2:04 PM - 2:18 PM CST
    (SYM 71) Socio-ecological Barriers Impeding Mental Health Service Utilization Among Community College Students vs. 4-year University Students

    Speaker: Andrew Alvarez, B.A. (he/him/his) – University of California, Los Angeles

    Co-author: Gia N. Chodzen, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of California, Los Angeles

    Co-author: Jocelyn I. Meza, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – UCLA School of Medicine

  • 2:18 PM - 2:32 PM CST
    (SYM 71) A Mixed Methods Approach to Assessing Socio-ecological Barriers to Engagement in a Brief Trauma-focused Intervention Imbedded in Primary Care

    Speaker: Gia N. Chodzen, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of California, Los Angeles

    Co-author: Lauren Ng, Ph.D. – University of California, Los Angeles

  • 2:32 PM - 2:46 PM CST
    (SYM 71) Identifying Access and Engagement Barriers to Trauma Informed Care Faced by Incarcerated Youth: A Community-based Participatory Research Approach

    Speaker: Gray Bowers, M.A. (they/them/theirs) – University of California, Los Angeles

    Co-author: Gray Bowers, M.A. (they/them/theirs) – University of California, Los Angeles

    Co-author: Lauren Ng, Ph.D. – University of California, Los Angeles

  • 2:46 PM - 3:00 PM CST
    (SYM 71) Addressing Critical Workforce Shortages as a Barrier to Youth Mental Health Access: Implementation of a Multi-component Career Development Program

    Speaker: Virginia Henson, B.A. (she/her/hers) – University of California Los Angeles

    Co-author: Jocelyn I. Meza, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – UCLA School of Medicine

    Co-author: Lindsay Alexander, MPH – Child Mind Institute

    Co-author: Michael Milham, M.D., Ph.D. – Child Mind Health Institute