291 High mental health burden among community members: Results from a community engagement program in North Central Florida

Objectives/Goals: Community members in North Central Florida who were identified with high mental health burden, through completion of a Health Needs Assessment in our community engagement program, experienced higher rates of health disparities like food insecurity, recent marijuana use, and burden of disease compared to persons with lower mental health burden. Methods/Study Population: Data were collected through HealthStreet, a University of Florida community engagement program to reduce disparities in healthcare and research. Multivariate and logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify differences between community members with high mental health burden (HMHB; reported depression and scored 8–10 on the stress/loneliness scale) and people with low mental health burden (LMHB; no reported depression and scored 1–7 on the stress/loneliness scale) on age, sex, race, food insecurity, trust in research/researchers, recent marijuana use, high blood pressure, and anxiety. Results/Anticipated Results: Among 3,736 CMs, 21.9% (n = 819) were considered to have high mental health burden. They were statistically significantly more likely to be middle-aged (37.9% vs. 31.2% LMHB), food insecure (62.6% vs. 35.2% LMHB), self-reported marijuana use in the past 30 days (29.2% vs. 15.5% LMHB), and experienced anxiety (70.8% vs. 34.4% LMHB). There were no differences by sex or trust. Discussion/Significance of Impact: People with HMHB do in fact have more disparities than people with LMHB but trust in research(ers) is not affected. These disparities contribute to significant distress over the lifespan. HealthStreet has engaged people with higher mental health burden and provided social referrals, which is crucial to reduce disparities and improve outcomes.