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Completed

NCT Number: NCT03631745

Delivering Church-based Interventions to Reduce Stigma and Mental Health Treatment Disparities Among Latinos

This study is a cluster randomized controlled trial of a Latino church-based intervention in Los Angeles and Riverside Counties. This study aims to leverage the collective resources of Latino religious congregations and the National Alliance on Mental Illness to test the effectiveness of a multi-component intervention directed at reducing stigma, increasing mental health literacy, and improving access to mental health services.

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Key information

Conditions

Help-Seeking Behavior Behavior Social Behavior Social Stigma Stigma, Social

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

RAND

Santa Monica, California, 90401, United States

About this study

This study is a cluster randomized controlled trial of a Latino church-based intervention in Los Angeles and Riverside Counties. This study aims to leverage the collective resources of Latino religious congregations and the National Alliance on Mental Illness to test the effectiveness of a multi-component intervention directed at reducing stigma, increasing mental health literacy, and improving access to mental health services. A total of 12 churches (6 intervention and 6 wait-list control) will be enrolled in the study. Churches within each study site, the Riverside County parishes and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, will be matched in pairs based on size and geography. Three matched pairs from each study site will be randomly selected and then randomly assigned within each pair to intervention or control. The planned study will involve 2400 participants (1200 intervention and 1200 control) who will be part of congregations that are randomly assigned to receive the church-based intervention immediately or a wait list control condition. Participants will be assessed at baseline, 6-month follow-up, and 12-month follow-up to evaluate intervention effects on mental health service use and potential mediators (i.e., mental health literacy, stigma).

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Congregant of selected intervention and control churches

Exclusion criteria

  • Does not meet criteria above

Treatment and study plan

NAMI Mental Health 101 and NAMI FaithNet

Behavioral

Congregants of Intervention Churches will receive:

  • NAMI Mental Health 101, a 60-90 minute, contact-based educational intervention
  • NAMI FaithNet which consists of congregational support and training to cultivate supportive environments within faith communities for those with mental health conditions and their families.

Primary outcomes

  1. Mental Health Service Use

    Time frame: Mental Health Service Use between Baseline and 12-month Follow-up

    Change in mental health service use among participants in intervention churches versus those in control churches.

    Mental health service use will be measured with the following modified item from the California Health Interview Survey: "In the past 12 months have you seen a professional, such as a counselor, psychiatrist, or social worker for problems with your mental health, emotions, nerves, or your use of alcohol or drugs?"

    Response options are dichotomous (Yes/No).

    Tran LD, Ponce NA. Who Gets Needed Mental Health Care? Use of Mental Health Services among Adults with Mental Health Need in California. Calif J Health

    Promot. 2017;15(1):36-45. PubMed PMID: 28729814; PubMed Central PMCID:

    PMC5515380.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Mental Illness Stigma

    Time frame: Mental Illness Stigma reduction between Baseline and 12-month Follow-up

    Change in stigma among participants in intervention churches versus those in control churches. Personal stigma will be assessed with social distance measures, one of the most widely used indicators of stigma. Social distance is assessed by asking respondents to rate their degree of willingness to interact with someone with a mental illness in various interpersonal situations (e.g., work closely on a job; live next door; spend an evening socializing; marry into the family; as a friend).

    Jorm AF, Oh E. Desire for social distance from people with mental disorders. The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry. 2009;43(3):183-200.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

RAND

Other

Collaborators

  • National Alliance on Mental Illness California

Registry information

Important dates

Study start
2020
Primary completion
2025
Study completion
2025
First posted
Aug 15, 2018
Registry last updated
Jul 8, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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