The healthcare needs of Latinos with serious mental illness and the potential of peer navigators

The healthcare needs of Latinxs with severe mental illness, barriers to accessing care, potential solutions to those barriers and the possibility that peer navigators might be able to fill the gap were addressed by this study. Through a community-based participatory research (CBPR) model in which Latinxs with a lived experience of severe mental illness were involved at all stages of the process, focus groups and interviews were conducted with members of several Latinx communities in Chicago. Multiple healthcare needs were identified, while the largest single barrier to accessing care was immigration status. Latinx participants stressed the importance for clinics to develop sliding-scale fee options, integrate families into the patient's decision-making process, and provide services in Spanish. Peer navigators, especially those who are both Latinx and in recovery from severe mental illness, were endorsed by participants as a possible solution to many of the barriers they experience in seeking care.  This study provides recommendations for a peer navigator training program, including the need to recognize that Latinxs are not a homogeneous cultural group and peer navigator programs will not be "one size fits all." (Immigrant Integration Lab)

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