Steven R. Lopez1, Alex Kopelowicz2, Jodie Ullman3, Maria Santos1, Maya Kratzer1; 1University of Southern California, 2University of California Los Angeles, 3California State University San Bernardino
We conducted a 2-year, multifaceted bilingual communication campaign for US Latinos regarding psychosis. We assessed whether the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) decreased during the campaign more than during the 15-month historical control condition preceding the campaign. Patients with first episode psychosis were recruited from a public outpatient and inpatient mental health unit in the Los Angeles area. Inclusion criteria were: ages 16-65, having a psychotic disorder not due to a medical condition or substance use, and self-identifying as Latino. Exclusion criteria were: having taken antipsychotic medication for more than a year or not understanding the informed consent procedures. Three DUPs were measured: onset to first seeking any services for the disorder (DUP1), first prescription for antipsychotic medication (DUP2), and taking medication for at least 3 months (DUP3). The DUPs were highly skewed; therefore, analyses were conducted on transformed measures. We found no significant mean differences between the campaign condition (n=57) and the control condition (n=46) for the DUP measures. Significant differences in the variance of DUP1, but not for DUP2/DUP3, were found. There was a significantly smaller variance for the campaign than for the control. The variance of DUP1 was also smaller for those residing within the targeted community than in surrounding communities, and for those born in the US versus Latin America. That the variance differed for DUP1 but not DUP2/DUP3 suggests that the campaign influenced families’ contribution to DUP but not professional networks. Recommendations to increase the impact of DUP reduction campaigns for minority communities are discussed.
