Delivering Church-based Interventions to Reduce Stigma and Mental Health Treatment Disparities Among Latinos

This study is a cluster randomized controlled trial of a Latino church-based intervention in Los Angeles and Riverside Counties. This study aims to leverage the collective resources of Latino religious congregations and the National Alliance on Mental Illness to test the effectiveness of a multi-component intervention directed at reducing stigma, increasing mental health literacy, and improving access to mental health services. A total of 12 churches (6 intervention and 6 wait-list control) will be enrolled in the study. Churches within each study site, the Riverside County parishes and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, will be matched in pairs based on size and geography. Three matched pairs from each study site will be randomly selected and then randomly assigned within each pair to intervention or control. The planned study will involve 2400 participants (1200 intervention and 1200 control) who will be part of congregations that are randomly assigned to receive the church-based intervention immediately or a wait list control condition. Participants will be assessed at baseline, 6-month follow-up, and 12-month follow-up to evaluate intervention effects on mental health service use and potential mediators (i.e., mental health literacy, stigma).