JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In the US, among those living with mental illness, 81 percent of African American (AA) young adults do not seek treatment compared to 66 percent of their White counterparts. Though the literature has identified unique culturally related factors that impact help seeking among AAs, limited information exists regarding the development and evaluation of interventions that incorporate these unique factors. The purpose of this study protocol is to: develop a culturally relevant, theory based, psychoeducational intervention for AA college students; determine if exposure to the intervention impacts AA students’ willingness to seek help; and determine whether cultural factors and stigma add to the prediction of willingness to seek help.

Objective:

The overall objective of this study is to understand how a culturally relevant, theory-based, interactive psychoeducational intervention can impact depression help-seeking willingness and subsequent behavior among AA college students.

Methods:

The Theory of Planned Behavior and Barrera & Castro’s framework for cultural adaptation of interventions were used as guiding frameworks. In Stage 1 (Information Gathering) a literature review and 3 focus groups were conducted to identify salient cultural beliefs. Utilizing Stage 1 results, the intervention was designed in Stage 2 (Preliminary Adaptation Design) and in Stage 3 (Preliminary Adaptation Tests), the intervention was tested using pre-test, post-test and 3-month follow-up surveys. An experimental, mixed-methods, prospective one group intervention design was employed and the primary outcomes were participants’ willingness and intention to seek help for depression and actual help-seeking behavior.

Results:

This study was funded in May 2016 and approved by the (institution blinded for review) Institutional Review Board in November 2016. Data were collected from November 2016 to March 2016. Of the 103 students who signed up to participate in the study, 70 (93.3%) completed the pre and post-test surveys. Expected results to be published in Fall/Winter 2020.

Conclusions:

Findings from this research are expected to improve clinical practice by providing empirical evidence as to whether a culturally relevant psychoeducational intervention is useful for improving help-seeking among young AAs. It will also inform future research and intervention development involving the TPB and willingness to seek help by identifying important factors related to willingness to seek help. Advancing this field of research may facilitate improvements in help-seeking behavior among AA young people and reducing associated mental health disparities that apparently manifest early on.