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. 2025 Nov;52(6):1174-1198.
doi: 10.1007/s10488-025-01459-6. Epub 2025 Jul 21.

Community Health Worker-Delivered Mental Health Interventions for Latine Populations in the U.S.: A Systematic Literature Review

Erika L Gustafson  1 , Jacqueline O Moses  2 , Eliana Pimentel  3 , Davielle Lakind  4 , Viviana Uribe  5 , Dillon Thorpe  2   6 , Gabriella Bobadilla  2 , Lily Caglianone  2   7 , Grayson J Dickinson  8 , Dale Smith  2 , Jennifer Westrick  7 , Lisa Sánchez-Johnsen  9   10
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Community Health Worker-Delivered Mental Health Interventions for Latine Populations in the U.S.: A Systematic Literature Review

Erika L Gustafson et al. Adm Policy Ment Health. 2025 Nov.

Abstract

The United States (US) faces a mental health crisis characterized by persistent unmet mental health needs, provider shortages, and pronounced mental health inequities for systematically marginalized communities, including the Latine population. Integrating community health workers (CHWs) into mental healthcare delivery via task-shifting is one promising approach to address longstanding inequities in treatment access. Yet, most studies of CHW mental health models have been conducted outside of the US, necessitating an evaluation of the evidence base for these models domestically, and in particular, their use with Latines living in the US. This systematic review examines the evidence for CHW-delivered mental health interventions for US-based Latines. In total, 27 articles (25 trials) met the eligibility criteria. The majority of interventions were delivered in Spanish to immigrant populations. The most common mental health targets included depression, stress, and parenting or the parent-child relationship. Common intervention components included psychoeducation, general coping skills, behavior management, case management, communication skills, relaxation, and problem solving. The majority of studies found that CHW-delivered interventions led to significant mental health symptom improvements. However, there was a high risk of bias across studies. Thus, there is promising preliminary evidence supporting CHW-delivered mental health interventions for US Latines, but more rigorous evaluation of these models is needed.

Keywords: Community health workers; Latine/x/o/a; Mental health; Promotores de salud; Psychological treatment; Systematic review.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: Authors have no competing interests to disclose. Ethical approval: This review followed the Preferred Reporting items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Harvest plot of outcomes across intervention components. Numbers above the bars denote the number of quality appraisal criteria met by a study. For RCTs, there was a total of 13 quality appraisal criteria. For non-RCTs, there was a total of 9 quality appraisal criteria
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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