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Symposia

Culture / Ethnicity / Race

Innovative Strategies for the Dissemination of Evidence-Based Practices among Spanish-Speakers

3 - (SYM 69) Using a Novel Ehealth Intervention as a Mechanism to Treat Behavioral Health Concerns Among Latines

Sunday, November 23, 2025
2:41 PM - 3:00 PM CST
Location: Celestin H, Level 3
Keywords: Treatment Development, Evidence-Based Practice, Hispanic American/ Latinx
Recommended Readings: Dalgleish, T., Black. M., Johnston, D., & Bevan, A. (2020). Transdiagnostic approaches to mental health problems: Current status and future directions. J Consult Clin Psychol, 88(3),179-195.https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000482.,   Green, J.G., McLaughlin, K.A., Fillbrunn, M., Fuluda, M., Jackson, M.J., Kessler, R.C., Sadikova, E., Sampson, N.A., Vilsaint, C., Williams, D.R., Cruz-Gonzalez, M., & Alegria, M. (2020) Barriers to mental health service use and predictors of treatment drop out: Racial/Ethnic variation in a population-based study. Adm Policy Ment Health, 47, 606–616. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-020-01021-6,   Pavlenko, A. (2012). Affective processing in bilingual speakers: Disembodied cognition?. International Journal of Psychology, 47(6), 405-428. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2012.743665,   Estrada, Y., Lee, T. K., Wagstaff, R., M Rojas, L., Tapia, M. I., Velázquez, M. R., Sardinas, K., Pantin, H., Sutton, M. Y., & Prado, G. (2019). eHealth familias unidas: Efficacy trial of an evidence-based intervention adapted for use on the internet with hispanic families. Prevention Science : The official journal of the Society for Prevention Research, 20(1), 68–77. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-018-0905-6,  
Abstract Body

Latines experience exorbitant rates of anxiety and depression. The lack of Spanish-speaking mental health providers results in inaccessible resources perpetuating mental health concerns. Latines experience numerous treatment barriers, including transportation difficulties, cost of services, and scheduling complications. Transdiagnostic treatments are viable and effective options to address co-morbid emotional disorders, in particular, the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (UP). Unfortunately, the current literature offers insufficient Latine sample sizes to provide adequate information about this population. eHealth interventions, such as telenovelas, have been proposed as a tool to deliver health-related resources to underserved communities, however, adaptations specific to Latines have yet to be established.

This study developed a 9-episode, skill-based, Spanish telenovela intervention using the UP to target emotional disorders among Latines with a history of trauma. We hypothesized that participants with higher engagement and satisfaction with the video series would report lower anxiety and depression and increases in positive emotions, psychological well-being, and quality of life post-treatment. Participants were 24 Spanish-speaking Latines from the community. The majority of the participants were female (95.83%); participants were between the ages of 22 and 60 (M = 45.13, SD = 8.71). Participants received one video per week, each video lasting approximately 5 minutes.

Data collection is ongoing; preliminary results demonstrate that a UP telenovela is an accessible and feasible mechanism to target comorbid emotional disorders. A paired samples t-test conducted with treatment completers (n = 14) suggests that there are significant improvements in anxiety, t(13) = 2.32, p = 0.006, and depressive symptoms, t(13) = 2.46, p = 0.029, post-treatment. The average number of videos viewed was 7.21 videos, demonstrating high engagement rates. Participants also reported high satisfaction with the telenovela (M = 27.33, SD = 6.67). Although data collection is ongoing, preliminary results suggest that this eHealth intervention is a promising mechanism to deliver behavioral health services to Latines. Overall, novel interventions, such as the telenovela, can aid in disseminating behavioral health services to underserved populations while targeting comorbid disorders.