225 Assessing the Feasibility of a Community Health Worker-Delivered Mental Health Intervention for Latina Immigrant Women

Abstract OP 23: Mental Health 3, B304 (FCSH), September 4, 2025, 14:45 - 15:45 Aims Latina immigrants in the United States are at high risk for mental health concerns and face barriers to accessing mental health resources. Amigas Latinas Motivando el Alma (ALMA) is a community-based mental health intervention to reduce depression and anxiety among Latina immigrants. The ALMA intervention was originally designed and tested in an intervention trial using mental health and mindfulness professionals to deliver the intervention. Community health workers are increasingly being used to provide culturally relevant mental health care in areas with a limited workforce. The aim of this study was to test the implementation strategy of training community health workers (CHW) to deliver the intervention. Methods The ALMA intervention integrates Latino cultural, mindfulness-based coping strategies and social support to reduce depression and anxiety. We trained five CHWs to deliver the ALMA intervention at two community-based organizations in Central Washington, United States. These CHWs then offered the program to Latina immigrants at each of their organizations (n = 37) with support from our bilingual research team. We collected survey data on CHW and participant characteristics, intervention fidelity, participant attendance, satisfaction, and changes in depression (PHQ-8) and anxiety (GAD-7) pre- and post-intervention. Results CHW completed all training sessions and delivered 94% of the activities in the ALMA sessions. We found high participant engagement and satisfaction with the program. Mean depression scores (PHQ-8) decreased from 7.2 (mild severity) pre-intervention to 4.5 (minimal severity) post-intervention, and anxiety scores (GAD-7) decreased from 6.7 (mild severity) to 3.8 (minimal severity). Conclusions Overall, training and supporting the CHWs to deliver the intervention was feasible. CHWs may be an effective implementation strategy to broaden the reach and sustainability of ALMA. Future research should evaluate this approach in a larger trial with a more rigorous study design.