G2 – Culture is Context: Navigating a More Culturally-Informed Contextual Interview with the Foreign-Born Latinx Population

Summary

The Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH) model is associated with increased access to and utilization of behavioral health services and improved health outcomes. The benefit of an integrated model with racial/ethnic minorities and underserved populations remains poorly documented. However, an integrated model can meet the needs of this patient population by increasing patient contact and facilitating greater identification of behavioral health needs. Among these underserved populations is the rapidly growing, foreign-born Latinx community that endures adverse social/cultural/political factors which disproportionately affect their health and access to care and increase the complexity of their care in primary care settings. Being aware of these factors is critical in meeting their complex needs. Fortunately, inherent in PCBH is an appreciation for the complexity of patients’ clinical presentations and an understanding that symptoms and behaviors do not occur in a vacuum but are a response to contextual factors. Thus, the contextual interview is essential in addressing the behavioral health needs of Latinx patients. However, with such complex psychosocial histories, inexperienced BHCs or those lacking a guiding cultural framework run the risk of missing relevant cultural information, going down a rabbit hole and deviating from the brevity of the model. This workshop seeks to provide clinicians a cultural framework to guide them in executing a more time-sensitive, culturally informed contextual interview. We will introduce the CAMINO framework (Silva, Paris, & Añez, 2017) which emphasizes pre/post-migration experiences. We will guide participants through the integration of this framework into the contextual interview using case examples. A non-validated tool will be introduced to help BHCs apply this framework with patients. Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to engage in a hands-on activity applying this framework to the contextual interview.