Advancing Equity in Youth Mental Health Services: Introduction to the Special Issue (Part II)

Abstract

The second part of the special issue on Advancing Equity in Youth Mental Health Services includes articles that extend Part I of the special issue by addressing service access and engagement, delivery and effectiveness, and sustainability of practices within service systems. First, a conceptual paper by Ofonedu et al. (2023) presents the Family as Host (FAH) model as a novel framework that promotes access to nonstigmatizing, culturally responsive supports for Black youth of African descent. This model shifts the positions of Black youth and their family and clinical care providers to facilitate treatment engagement and healing. The authors discuss practice changes and implications for future research to support more egalitarian, culturally responsive approaches to promote positive psychological health outcomes. In the next article, Park et al. (2023) review the literature on psychosocial interventions for youth of color published between 1974 and 2018 with the aim of identifying strategies used to incorporate culture in effective psychosocial interventions. The authors delineate the most common strategies for incorporating culture into interventions for Black and Latinx/ Hispanic youth, as well as some remaining gaps in the evidence base for Asian, Native American and Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander youth. The authors discuss the nuances of providing effective mental health services that are culturally responsive and the need to better understand factors that mediate/moderate the benefits of tailoring interventions. They allude to the promise of decision support tools to help providers determine whether, when, and how to culturally tailor interventions with youth of color. Advancing equity in youth mental health services begins with ensuring that youth needs are identified and that services are accessible and address youth and family needs. To this end, Buitron et al. (2023) examine prior use of formal mental health services in a sample of Latinx youth hospitalized following a recent suicide crisis. They consider how dimensions of acculturation and enculturation, and relevant demographic and clinical indicators, are associated with prior service use. Despite high levels of current clinical need, nearly 20% of youth had not received mental health services prior to the recent hospitalization. The authors emphasize the need to support youth and their families in accessing needed services earlier and they highlight potential avenues for achieving this goal. Increased availability of telehealth services in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic may be one key avenue for increasing access to services. Castro et al. (2023) explore the perspectives of youth, caregivers, and providers on the telehealth delivery of services in an urban clinic serving a predominantly Latinx community. Using focus group methodology, the authors identify themes related to perceived strengths and limitations associated with telehealth service delivery. Identified themes range from advice for providers delivering telehealth services; implications for the therapeutic relationship; and issues related to comfort, privacy, and confidentiality. The authors conclude with clinical recommendations and strategies to improve telehealth service delivery, highlighting the potential for telehealth to address unique challenges of delivering services to