REACH Grantee Extends Work Addressing Health Inequity in New Project
Ann D. Bagchi, PhD/DNP, Receives New Jersey Health Foundation Award to Develop Expanded Provision of Mental Health Services to Rutgers Students
“What we knew when we started this work with REACH,” said Dr. Bagchi, associate professor of professional practice, Rutgers Business School, “is that there’s an overwhelming need for mental health services, but that barriers exist to accessing care, which can be particularly strong in underserved communities where social determinants of health are also a factor.”
In the original REACH-funded project, Bagchi and her community-based partners focused their work on the Latinx community, where social stigma can be a barrier to seeking care. The team trained bilingual Latinx community health workers (CHWs) to provide therapeutic services to Spanish-speaking clients with non-acute mental health conditions.
“Previous studies have suggested that therapy is more effective when offered by a provider perceived as culturally congruent,” says Bagchi, “and, in fact, our study demonstrated that the approach we used—a therapeutic modality known as Behavioral Activation (BA)—was effective with this group.”
“BA helps clients alleviate depression by identifying and increasing positive experiences in their lives, with the guidance of a counselor,” explains Azara Santiago-Rivera, PhD, a coinvestigator on the REACH study.
Now, Bagchi and her collaborators are extending the model, and testing its effectiveness at addressing needs right on the Rutgers-New Brunswick campus.
Barriers to mental/behavioral health care experienced by university students include long wait times for appointments, social stigma, and lack of culturally congruent service providers. But services could be expanded through alternative service options, including peer mentorship, Bagchi realized, in an analogous fashion to the bilingual CHWs who provided care to their Latinx clients.
“A recent systematic review found that health outcomes can improve when interventions are delivered by lay individuals in faith-based organizations,” noted Bagchi, “so, this time, our study could test the efficacy of the training when the advanced undergraduates providing services are from faith backgrounds aligned with their clients.”
Bagchi lost no time in inviting a colleague to the team who could bring the necessary expertise: Rev. Katrina Jenkins, MDiv, Assistant Dean for Faith and Spirituality Initiatives at Rutgers.
Dr. Santiago-Rivera and Melissa Rivera Marano, PsyD—the counselors who provided training and assessment in the first study—round out the research team for the new project, and, with funding support provided by the New Jersey Health Foundation, Bagchi and colleagues are poised to begin the work.
If successful, the proposed program could be expanded and become a standard service option available to students, and potentially incorporated into the graduate curriculum to promote program sustainability.
“Enlarged service delivery could relieve some of the demand for licensed professionals, and incorporation of cultural congruence is anticipated to increase effectiveness,” Bagchi explains. “We can’t wait to begin.”
