Examining Associations between Community Health Worker-Rated Health and Mental Health among Latino Adults with Chronic Disease

Abstract

Latinos with chronic disease often experience comorbid depression, but confront barriers to mental health treatment. Community health workers (CHWs) develop trusting relationships with the communities they serve, and may be uniquely positioned to identify Latinos with mental health care needs. Research has not examined whether their rating of clients’ health is indicative of their mental health. This mixed-methods study examines CHWs’ appraisals of Latino adults’ health and their relation to mental health outcomes, and explores factors informing CHWs’ rating of health status. The current study utilized baseline data from the Linking Individual Needs to Community and Clinical Services (LINKS) study. We assessed associations between CHW-rated health (CHWRH), or rating of health status as poor–excellent, and mental health outcomes with multilevel linear regression modelling. We qualitatively analyzed CHWs’ written perceptions of participants’ health status to understand what influenced their health rating. The quantitative results showed that CWHRH was significantly related to depressive symptoms and emotional problems severity. The qualitative results showed that CHWs took a holistic and ecological approach in rating health. The findings suggest that CHWRH could be indicative of mental health among Latino adults. Further studies investigating CHWRH as an independent indicator of mental health are warranted.

Factors Associated with Depressive Symptoms among Mexican-Origin Adults in a Community Sample at the US Mexico Border Region

“…Considering that Mexicanorigin individuals may express depressive symptoms in terms of somatic complaints (vs. psychological or psychiatric complaints) [29], CHWs play a key role in validating their complaints by recognizing the importance of mental healthcare and by referring them to health services. Moreover, there is a need for culturally competent healthcare providers to improve depressive symptoms detection among this population [30]. Additionally, future research may contemplate including objective measures of physical health among this priority population, including the experience of pain.…”