# Enlace Familiar: Combating Mental Health Stigma, Improving Mental Health Literacy, Supporting Mental Health Discussions at Home, and Access to care among Latinx Adolescents from Mixed Status Families

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2024 · $137,160

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Latinx adolescents from mixed-status families (where one or both parents are undocumented) comprise the
ethnic-racial group with the highest rates of depressive symptoms, which, if left untreated, can have life-long
deleterious impacts to their health. These youth also face additional barriers for care due to individual and
cultural stigma about mental health, difficulty discussing their mental health needs with caregivers or other
adults, as well as low mental health literacy and low access to mental health treatment. Research is necessary
to develop appropriate interventions tailored to the specific needs of Latinx adolescents, focusing on the
sociocultural and health care factors that impact their mental health. This career development K01 award will
address this gap in research while providing the candidate with the opportunity to fulfill the following goals: 1)
develop broad expertise in intervention development, 2) gain skills in intervention testing, refinement, and
evaluation, 3) enhance her knowledge of community-based participatory research (CBPR), and 4) acquire
skills in translation of research with immigrant populations. The proposed rigorous training and mentoring plan
includes coursework and workshops on health communications, implementation science, the design, conduct
and analysis of clinical trials, and advanced statistical analysis at the University of Michigan’s top-ranked
Schools of Social Work, Public Health, and Medicine. It also includes experiential learning through presenting
at national conferences, manuscripts, and grant submissions, as well as mentoring from experts in mental
health intervention development, Latinx adolescents’ mental health, implementation science, CBPR methods,
motivational interviewing, and community health workers. This training and mentoring will prepare the
candidate for her long-term career goals of developing efficacious, culturally grounded, and community-based
interventions to improve the mental health of Latinx adolescents. These training goals are rooted in a CBPR
framework and specific to working with Latinx immigrant communities through which the candidate aims to: 1)
Explore facilitators and barriers to adolescents’ (a) discussion of mental health needs with caregivers or other
adults and (b) use of mental health services expressed by both youth and their caregivers; 2) Develop a
culturally tailored, motivational interviewing-based intervention for Latinx adolescents from mixed-status
families aimed at (a) increasing youth discussions of their mental health needs with caregivers or other adults,
(b) reducing stigma of mental health treatment, (c) increasing their mental health literacy, and (d) increasing
mental health treatment engagement; 3) pilot and evaluate this intervention with 32 Latinx teens from mixed-
status families to determine its feasibility, acceptability, fidelity, and potential impact on key outcomes. Through
these experiences and the guidance of her expert me...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11053021
- **Project number:** 1K01MD019325-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Fernanda Lima Cross
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $137,160
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-26 → 2029-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11053021

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11053021, Enlace Familiar: Combating Mental Health Stigma, Improving Mental Health Literacy, Supporting Mental Health Discussions at Home, and Access to care among Latinx Adolescents from Mixed Status Families (1K01MD019325-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11053021. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*