The Recognition and Referral of Mental Disorders within Religious Congregations

描述（由申请人提供）：宗教会众通常是寻求心理健康问题帮助的第一个也是唯一的接触点。作为社区的看门人，宗教集会可以在将个人与需要的心理健康治疗联系起来方面发挥强大的作用。然而，宗教会众往往不知道何时、如何或在何处咨询心理健康提供者。因此，虽然宗教集会被认为是连接非正式和正式护理系统的宝贵对应者，但它仍然是一个严重未开发的资源，特别是对于服务不足的少数民族人口，他们在获得、使用和精神卫生保健质量方面存在重大差异。需要一个更加标准化的程序来加强宗教团体对精神疾病的认识以及与精神卫生提供者的合作。作为第一步，提议的研究旨在为干预奠定基础，以加强教会在心理健康筛查、转诊和咨询方面的实践。拟议中的研究将与一个以信仰为基础的合作伙伴西洛杉矶基督教会合作进行，该教会拥有超过24,000名会众，是美国最大的黑人“超级教堂”之一。西洛杉矶位于洛杉矶南部，与健康、社会福利和社区组织有着广泛的互动，并提供了80多个项目来增强社区。西洛杉矶寻求建立其他教会参与类似合作关系的能力，并帮助领导以信仰为基础的社区合作，这是一个由300多个当地宗教团体组成的网络。建议的研究有以下具体目的：(1)描述处理精神障碍的教会实践的范围(2)确定与宗教会众对精神健康筛查、转诊和咨询的接受程度相关的因素(3)制定一个初步方案，以提高宗教会众参与精神健康筛查、转诊和合作的能力。我们将从具有不同组织特征的有目的的宗教团体样本中与主要利益相关者进行焦点小组讨论。对于目标2，我们将与协作进行一项调查，以检验关于心理健康筛查，转诊和合作的接受性预测因素的假设。对于目标3，协作小组的一个子集将作为一个工作组召开会议，根据目标1和2的结果以及关于质量改进协作护理心理健康干预措施的文献，制定旨在加强RCs心理健康筛查、转诊和咨询的初步干预措施。使用经过修改的德尔菲法，协作小组将审查初步计划，提供反馈，进行修订，并就最终建议达成共识，这些建议将在利益相关者反馈会议上提交，为未来的大规模实施工作做准备。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Religious congregations are often the first and only point of contact for help with mental health problems. As community gatekeepers, religious congregations can play a powerful role in linking individuals to needed mental health treatment. However, religious congregations often do not know when, how, or where to consult with mental health providers. Thus, although recognized as invaluable counterparts that can connect informal and formal systems of care, religious congregations remain a grossly untapped resource, particularly for underserved ethnic minority populations for whom there are significant disparities in access, use, and quality of mental health care. A more standardized process on how to enhance religious congregations' recognition of mental disorders and collaboration with mental health providers is needed. As an initial step, the proposed study aims to lay the foundation for an intervention that enhances congregational practices around mental health screening, referral, and consultation. The proposed study would be carried out in collaboration with a faith-based partner, West Angeles Church of God in Christ, which has over 24,000 congregants and is one of the largest Black "mega-churches" in the nation. Situated in South Los Angeles, West Angeles has extensive interactions with health, social welfare, and community organizations and provides more than 80 programs to enhance the community. West Angeles seeks to build the capacity of other congregations to engage in similar collaborative relationships and helps lead the Faith-based Community Collaborative, a network of over 300 local religious congregations. The proposed study has the following specific aims: (1) Describe the range of congregational practices in addressing mental disorders (2) Identify factors associated with religious congregations' receptivity to mental health screening, referral, and consultation (3) Develop a preliminary protocol to enhance the capacity of religious congregations' engagement in mental health screening, referral, and collaboration For Aim 1, we will conduct focus groups with key stakeholders from a purposeful sample of religious congregations with varying organizational characteristics. For Aim 2, we will conduct a survey with the Collaborative to test hypotheses about predictors of receptivity to mental health screening, referral, and collaboration. For Aim 3, a subset of the Collaborative will convene as a workgroup to develop a preliminary intervention aimed at enhancing RCs mental health screening, referral, and consultation, based upon findings from Aims 1 and 2 and from the literature on quality improvement collaborative care mental health interventions. Using adapted modified Delphi methods, the Collaborative will review the preliminary plan, provide feedback, make revisions, and obtain consensus on a final set of recommendations that will be presented at stakeholder feedback sessions in preparation for future wide-scale implementation efforts. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Religious congregations are often the first and only point of contact for help with mental disorders. As community gatekeepers, religious congregations can play a powerful role in linking individuals to needed treatment, particularly for ethnic minorities who continue to experience significant disparities in mental health care access and utilization. However, religious congregations remain grossly untapped resources given that they rarely refer, consult, or collaborate with mental health providers. The proposed study would lay the groundwork for a preliminary intervention aimed at enhancing religious congregations' capacity to engage in mental health screening, referral, and collaboration. The developed intervention would serve as a model on how to successfully bridge faith and mental health communities and could yield significant impact for the estimated 140.4 million Americans who are members of a religious congregation.