Testimonios, A Mental Health Support Group for Latino Immigrants in an Emergent Latino Community.

Latino immigrants face many stressors before, during, and after migration to the U.S., but there are few mental health services available to help them cope with this transition. We established free group sessions moderated by bilingual therapists to address the unmet mental health needs of Latino immigrants.

A Voice and a Vote: The Advisory Board Experiences of Spanish-Speaking Latina Mothers.

Latino children experience disparities in health care access and quality. Family advisory groups for clinics and hospitals may be one way to address disparities. We implemented and sustained an advisory board whose parent participants were exclusively limited-English proficient Latina mothers. As part of the board evaluation, we conducted semistructured individual interviews with parent participants during initial participation and after the final board meeting of the year. Members were satisfied with their board participation in both initial and follow-up interviews. They reported that board membership was an important way to improve clinic services and a unique opportunity for Latinos in the community. Experiences of discrimination and marginalization in health care settings were a theme across interviews. Members reported board membership countered these negative experiences. An advisory board including Spanish-speaking parents is an opportunity to engage vulnerable populations, which may result in broader impact on health care disparities.

Health Care Engagement of Limited English Proficient Latino Families: Lessons Learned from Advisory Board Development.

BACKGROUND: Specific information on the development and evaluation of patient/family engagement in health care improvement for populations with limited English proficiency (LEP) is lacking. OBJECTIVES: We sought to provide information for use by other health care organizations aiming to engage LEP populations through advisory groups. METHODS: Informed by community-based research principles, we formed a family advisory board of LEP Latino families and conducted a multimodal evaluation of initial implementation and partnership development. RESULTS: The board met process measures goals for sustained engagement of LEP families and for establishing a group structure and process. Board outcomes included contributions to clinic educational materials and initiation of a project to increase the child friendliness of the physical space. Mothers on the board reported satisfaction with their participation. CONCLUSIONS: We successfully sustained engagement of LEP Latino families in health care improvement using an advisory board. To promote patient-centered care and address health care disparities, LEP populations should be included in patient engagement programs.