Marital Problems and Relationship Difficulties and Integrated Care Among Hispanic Populations

Abstract

Health disparities are vast for Hispanic families in the United States and access to behavioral health care may be particularly underutilized (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2001). Though limited in scope and quantity, research to date suggests that Hispanic couples experience marital distress at a similar rate to other couples, at least as compared to non-Hispanic white couples (Bulanda & Brown, 2007). In addition, as has been found with other couples, marital distress is both longitudinally and cross-sectionally related to depressive symptoms for Hispanic couples (Hollist, Miller, Falceto, & Fernandez, 2007; Treviño, Wooten, & Scott, 2007). One movement that is actively gaining traction to try and reduce health care disparities is the integrated care model whereby medical and behavioral health professionals work side-by-side and in concert with one another. Numerous empirically supported programs and interventions exist to reduce and alleviate marital or couple distress, but given the separate silos medical and behavioral health professionals have historically worked in, it is likely the exception far more than the rule that distressed couples find their way to marital therapy or a marital educational group via their primary care physician. The goals of this chapter are to provide a brief review of marital distress and its impact on individual functioning, an overview of integrated behavioral health care and a stepped care model for addressing marital distress, including attention to cultural considerations and how they can be applied to interventions for marital distress to better serve Hispanic couples, and a review of the types of empirically supported marital interventions that are available. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)