Development of a decision support tool for culturally adapting mental health treatment to improve outcomes for Latine youths

In the United States, racial-ethnic disparities in mental health treatment engagement and consequently rates of unmet mental health needs have increased over the past two decades. Although drivers of these disparities are multifaceted, key contributors include the fallacy that evidence-based treatments (EBTs) are acultural as well as limited empirically supported guidance on culturally adapting EBTs. Developing a tool to help clinicians decide whether, when, and how to culturally adapt EBTs for individual Latine youth clients may enhance the cultural compatibility of EBTs and consequently improve treatment engagement and outcomes for this underserved population. The overall objective of this research is to develop and pilot a novel tool to help clinicians make personalized cultural adaptation decisions for their Latine youth clients. Our central hypothesis is that this decision support tool will help clinicians make appropriate cultural adaptations to EBTs, which will ultimately lead to improved mental health services and outcomes for Latine youths. In Aim 1, we will develop a novel tool – the Culturally Responsive Assessment, Formulation, and Treatment Tool (CRAFTT) – through four co-creation sessions with nine clinicians and researchers. These co-creation sessions will involve activities to: (1) triangulate cultural factors that may influence treatment engagement or progress to inform whether/when to culturally adapt EBTs; (2) triangulate cultural adaptations to inform how to culturally adapt EBTs; (3) match cultural factors with corresponding cultural adaptations; and (4) determine how to package this tool to facilitate effective and efficient clinician use. In Aim 2, we will refine CRAFTT through usability testing with eight clinicians. Lab-based user testing (“think aloud”) observations and quantitative usability ratings will be merged to identify and prioritize usability problems to be addressed through CRAFTT refinements. In Aim 3, we will evaluate the feasibility of the approach intended to be used in a future large-scale randomized effectiveness trial. This pilot study will include clinicians (N = 16) working with Latine youths (N = 64) with anxiety, depression, trauma, and disruptive behaviors. Clinicians will be randomized to either: (1) assess for cultural factors that may influence treatment engagement or progress using the Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI), treat psychopathology using the Modular Approach to Treatment for Children (MATCH), and make cultural adaptation decisions using CRAFTT; or (2) assess for cultural factors using the CFI, treat psychopathology using MATCH, and make cultural adaptation decisions using their best clinical judgement. Completion of this project will result in the first decision support tool for helping clinicians personalize cultural adaptation of EBTs for Latine youths. This work will also lay the foundation for a NIH R01 grant proposing to conduct a large randomized effectiveness trial testing the effect of MATCH augmented with CRAFTT on Latine youth treatment engagement and outcomes. This proposal aligns with NIMH’s priority to adapt EBTs to improve mental health services for underserved populations and promote mental health equity. Project Number: 1R34MH140927-01 | Fiscal Year: 2025 | NIH Institute/Center: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) | Principal Investigator: Alayna Park | Institution: UNIVERSITY OF OREGON, EUGENE, OR | Award Amount: $669,133 | Activity Code: R34 | Study Section: Mental Health Services Study Section[SERV] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11214297