Abstract
Many struggling with mental health difficulties do not receive services and this discrepancy is greater for underserved populations, such as Latinos/as. Understanding ethnic differences related to treatment barriers and willingness to use alternative modalities, such as mobile health (m-health) technology, may help address these discrepancies. Participants were 250 undergraduates (47.2% Latino/a and 32.8% non-Hispanic (NH) White). Most identified as female and were aged between 18 and 20. Participants completed measures of acculturation, distress, and attitudes toward traditional services and mobile technology. When group differences in treatment barriers were examined, Latinos/as were less likely to report having health insurance than NH Whites. Both groups were equally open to using m-health, although willingness to use it was linked with greater acculturation among Latinos/as. Mobile technology may be a viable means to reducing mental health disparities among Latinos/as. However, scholars must consider how to make such approaches to be acceptable to individuals who are lower in acculturation.
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Berkout, O.V., Gross, A.M. Barriers and Opportunities: Examining Attitudes Toward Traditional and Mobile Health Services in a Non-Clinical Sample of Non-Hispanic White and Latino/a Undergraduates. J. technol. behav. sci. 3, 253–258 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-018-0059-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-018-0059-1