A Mental Health Services Engagement Program for Racial and Ethnic Minority Young Adults

The study objective is to assess the feasibility and acceptability of three new culturally-responsive components added to the brief young adult engagement intervention called Just Do You. The new components incorporate techniques from the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) and creative arts therapy to increase culturally-responsive content in Just Do You, which demonstrated evidence of keeping young adults connected to their treatment in a prior trial. Components are designed to elicit relevant cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of diverse young adults enrolled in psychiatric rehabilitation as part of the Just Do You orientation program. The investigators will examine whether the new culturally-responsive components improve engagement in mental health services and increase service utilization.

A total of 80 young adults enrolled in an outpatient psychiatric rehabilitation program in New York will be recruited over 24 months to take part in a randomized full factorial pilot trial. Participants will be given a baseline assessment and randomly assigned to one of eight combinations of intervention components. Just Do You will be delivered first to all participants, with the assigned combination of new components to follow. The intervention will be delivered at the psychiatric rehabilitation program and will last up to five weeks for each participant, depending on the experimental condition. Outcome measures will be assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and 3-month follow up.

Inclusion criteria

• Aged 18-34
• From groups other than non-Hispanic White
• Enrolled in services at the partnering clinic site

Exclusion criteria

• Cognitive impairments (i.e., young adult cannot understand consent process)
• Unable to comprehend and speak English