Mentes Positivas en Accion: A Randomized Feasibility Study of a Promotor-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management Program for Low-Income Spanish-Speaking Latinos

Purpose: Although psychological distress is common among Latinos in the United States, they underutilize mental health services. We describe a community-based program to manage stress and reduce depressive symptoms among low-income Spanish-speaking Latinos. Methods: Mentes Positivas en Accion (MPA) (Positive Minds in Action) is an 8-week group program, delivered by trained promotores in community settings and evaluated through a randomized feasibility study. Participants were randomly assigned to an immediate MPA treatment group or a delayed-intervention control group. Outcomes assessed at baseline and 8 weeks included stress (Perceived Stress Scale [PSS]) and depressive symptoms (PHQ-9); higher scores indicate worse health. Repeated-measures analysis of variance examined groupxtime interaction effects for group differences in change from baseline to 8 weeks. The control group offered the program after the 8-week assessment, completed an additional assessment at the end of the program (16 weeks); t-tests assessed within-group changes. Results: Most participants were female, born in Mexico, and spoke only Spanish. Groupxtime interaction effects were significant for both outcomes. Mean PSS scores improved in the treatment group but not the control group (-0.80 vs. +0.10; p<0.014). Mean PHQ-9 scores improved more in the treatment group than the control group (-5.7 vs. -0.3; p<0.011). Within-group analyses of the control group found significant improvements in stress (-0.8; p<0.000) and depressive symptoms (-3.9; p<0.002). Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of a community-based promotor-delivered program to manage stress and reduce depressive symptoms among vulnerable underserved Latinos in the United States.