SUMMARY ABSTRACT
In the last ten years, Latinx youth reports of poor mental health (30%), sadness, hopelessness (46%), and
suicide ideation (22%) have significantly increased. Suicide ideation is a risk factor for suicide attempts and
death by suicide. Key risk factors for suicide ideation among Latinx youth include depression symptoms, low
sense of belongingness, and feeling a burden to others. Structural factors, such as low access to care, even
when they report suicide behaviors, place them at high risk. Latinx youth are often uninsured and mistrust
healthcare providers. Given that one in four youth younger than age 18 in the United States is Latinx,
increasing access to care before suicide behaviors onset in this population will make a public health impact.
Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Adolescents (IPT-A; 12-16 sessions), an effective evidence-based intervention
tested with Latinx youth, improves interpersonal functioning and, in turn, reduces depressive symptoms and
suicide ideation. Brief IPT-A (BIPT-A; 6-8 sessions) integrated into community settings and delivered by lay
providers (i.e., task-shifting) offers an opportunity to be used as an upstream suicide approach (before suicide
behaviors onset) and close the Latinx youth mental health access gap. However, research is needed to
examine the feasibility and acceptability of BIPT-A task-shifted to youth community centers where Latinx youth
learn and play. This K23 proposes a comprehensive career development plan to enable the candidate to
become an independent clinical investigator with expertise in implementation science and a recognized leader
in community capacity-building to prevent youth suicide by focusing on three main training goals: 1) Develop
expertise in systematically adapting interventions, 2) develop expertise in the use of task-shifting in suicide
prevention, and 3) gain skills in conducting pragmatic, randomized trials to test implementation strategies and
mechanisms of change pertaining to youth suicide ideation among Latinx youth. Leveraging existing
partnerships with three youth community centers, the proposed study aims to 1) Adapt BIPT-A for its use by lay
providers (i.e., youth mentors) in community centers to decrease depression symptoms, increase
belongingness, and decrease burdensomeness among Latinx youth with threshold score for depression (Aim
1). 2) Train youth mentors in the adapted BIPT-A (Aim 2). 3) Conduct a pilot pragmatic randomized trial to test
feasibility, acceptability, and mechanisms of change of BIPT-A task-shifted to youth mentors (Aim 3). This K23
addresses NIMH's strategic plan by investigating the adaptation and implementation of an evidence-based
mental health intervention in real-world settings with ethnic minoritized populations that has the potential to be
used as a preventive approach to suicide, build community capacity, and increase mental health equity.