Clinical trial NCT06868498: Train and EMPOWER A Community Health Workforce to Achieve Equity and Reduce Disparities in Mental Health
Official title: Train and EMPOWER A Community Health Workforce to Achieve Equity and Reduce Disparities in Mental Health
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION
Phase: NA
Conditions: CHW Certification
Keywords: CHW certification
Undergraduate students
University of Texas at Arlington
Baylor Scott &amp;amp;amp;amp; White
Social Work
Community Health Worker
EMPOWER Training
Lead sponsor: Baylor Research Institute
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
name: The University of Texas at Arlington
First posted: 2025-03-11
Enrollment: 1500
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: The investigators suggest a multi-step approach to improve access to mental health care for minority groups. The plan focuses on three goals: increasing diversity in the mental health workforce, bringing more expertise into the community, and strengthening the community's ability to address the factors that impact mental health.

To do this, the TEACH study team will work with students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups at a minority-serving school. Students will be provided the opportunity to obtain their CHW Certification while receiving course credit for their degree. Students will then be eligible to participate in an internship to utilize their skills. The TEACH study team will help these students with their training, supervision, and ongoing support. These students will then be able to work with their communities to tackle common mental health issues and the social factors that contribute to those problems.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Must be enrolled as a UTA undergraduate student with unmet internship hours
* Must be aged 18 and over
* Must be able to provide informed consent.
* Must have successful completion of the UTA CHW/EMPOWER course (Phase 2) and/or State of Texas CHW certification (for non-EMPOWER-trained CHWs) at the start of internship

Exclusion Criteria:

* Under 18 years
* Not enrolled as an undergraduate student at UTA
* Unable to provide informed consent
* Non-successful completion of EMPOWER course and/or State of Texas CHW certification at the start of internship

Primary outcomes:
measure: Job Placement
timeFrame: 12 months after the intervention has ended
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Depression
timeFrame: Baseline, an average of 5 months after the start of the intervention, and immediately after the intervention, an average of 10 months
measure: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
timeFrame: Baseline, an average of 5 months after the start of the intervention, and immediately after the intervention, an average of 10 months
measure: Primary Care Visits
timeFrame: Immediately after the intervention, an average of 10 months
measure: Anxiety
timeFrame: Baseline, an average of 5 months after the start of the intervention, and immediately after the intervention, an average of 10 months
measure: Behavioral Health Visits
timeFrame: Immediately after the intervention, an average of 10 months
measure: Quality of Behavioral Health Visits
timeFrame: Immediately after the intervention, an average of 10 months
measure: Acute Hospital Stays
timeFrame: Immediately after the intervention, an average of 10 months
measure: Emergency Department Stays
timeFrame: Immediately after the intervention, an average of 10 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Dallas
country: United States
facility: Baylor Scott and White Research Institute
state: Texas
Study officials:
affiliation: Baylor Scott and White Health
name: Katherine Sanchez, PhD, LCSW
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Baylor Scott and White Health
name: Ann Marie Warren, PhD, ABPP-RP
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Miller B, Burgos A. Enhancing the Capacity of the Mental Health and Addiction Workforce: A Framework. 2021. www.scattergoodfoundation.org
citation: Naslund JA, Tugnawat D, Anand A, Cooper Z, Dimidjian S, Fairburn CG, Hollon SD, Joshi U, Khan A, Lu C, Mitchell LM, Muke S, Nadkarni A, Ramaswamy R, Restivo JL, Shrivastava R, Singh A, Singla DR, Spiegelman D, Bhan A, Patel V. Digital training for non-specialist health workers to deliver a brief psychological treatment for depression in India: Protocol for a three-arm randomized controlled trial. Contemp Clin Trials. 2021 Mar;102:106267. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2021.106267. Epub 2021 Jan 6.
citation: Ma A, Sanchez A, Ma M. The Impact of Patient-Provider Race/Ethnicity Concordance on Provider Visits: Updated Evidence from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2019 Oct;6(5):1011-1020. doi: 10.1007/s40615-019-00602-y. Epub 2019 Jun 24.
citation: Chao PJ, Steffen JJ, Heiby EM. The effects of working alliance and client-clinician ethnic match on recovery status. Community Ment Health J. 2012 Feb;48(1):91-7. doi: 10.1007/s10597-011-9423-8. Epub 2011 Jun 17.
citation: Hoge MA, Stuart GW, Morris J, Flaherty MT, Paris M Jr, Goplerud E. Mental health and addiction workforce development: federal leadership is needed to address the growing crisis. Health Aff (Millwood). 2013 Nov;32(11):2005-12. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0541.