Study shows health care workers need better training to support the mental health needs of immigrants

As the number of immigrants in the United States grows, so does the need for mental health care in the communities in which they live – a problem most notably the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new study from Rice University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio finds that health care workers need better training in communication, mental health, and culture to support the mental health needs of immigrants.

“Caring for the Gap: Identifying Training Needs for Community Health Workers to Address Mental Health in Latin American Communities During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic” appears in the latest edition of Frontiers in Public Health. The researchers examined survey data collected from focus groups of health care workers in historically disadvantaged areas near the US-Mexico border.

Luz Garcini said: “Through our data collected and analyzed, it was abundantly clear that mental health issues were particularly prevalent among these medically disadvantaged communities during the pandemic, however, community health care workers felt ill-equipped to fully meet the needs of their patients. , assistant professor of psychological sciences at Rice and lead author of the study.

Specifically, workers expressed the need for additional training to support them in communicating, identifying symptoms of mental illness, dealing with trauma, promoting self-care and stress reduction, and exercising cultural awareness and sensitivity.

“The tasks performed by community health workers require a unique skill set and significant emotional investment,” the authors wrote. “Mental health training is required for them to do their job effectively and maintain their well-being. It is time to invest in mental health training and support for these essential workers in order to ultimately advance health equity and protect the mental health of the most vulnerable during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Garcini hopes that future work will continue to identify and implement ways to meet training needs.

“Only then will we be able to best serve the complex health needs of historically marginalized communities,” she said.

The study is available online at https://bit.ly/3f0n9Cy.

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from San Jose News Bulletin https://sjnewsbulletin.com/study-shows-health-care-workers-need-better-training-to-support-the-mental-health-needs-of-immigrants/