Depression screening and education: An examination of mental health literacy and stigma in a sample of Hispanic women

Abstract

Background: Mental health literacy consists of knowledge of a mental disorder and of the associated stigma. Barriers to depression treatment among Hispanic populations include persistent stigma which is primarily perpetuated by inadequate disease literacy and cultural factors. U.S.-born Hispanics are more likely to have depression compared to Hispanics born in Latin America and are less likely to follow a treatment plan compared to non-Hispanic whites. Hispanic women are more likely to access treatment through a primary care provider, making it an ideal setting for early mental health interventions. Methods: Baseline data from 319 female Hispanic patients enrolled in Project DESEO: Depression Screening and Education: Options to Reduce Barriers to Treatment, were examined. The study implemented universal screening with a self-report depression screening tool (the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and took place at one federally qualified health center (FQHC) over a 24-month period. The current analysis examined the relationship between four culturally adapted stigma measures and depression knowledge, and tested whether mental health literacy was comparable across education levels in a sample of Hispanic women diagnosed with depression. Results: Almost two-thirds of the sample had less than a high school education. Depression knowledge scores were significantly, weakly correlated with each the Stigma Concerns About Mental Health Care (ρ = -.165, p =.003), Latino Scale for Antidepressant Stigma (p =.124, p =.028), and Social Distance scores (p =.150, p =.007). Depression knowledge (F[2, 312] = 11.82, p