MBSR in a Hispanic Immigrant Population in St. Louis

Hispanics are the largest ethnic group in the US as well as the fastest growing. Yet, despite being such a large population group, Hispanics are under-studied and under-represented in most studies of health, psychological well-being, and mind-body interventions. For many Hispanic immigrants, life in the U.S. carries multiple socio-economic stressors, which places them at higher risk for depression and other poor health-related quality of life outcomes. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is a group-based training shown to reduce stress and improve overall well-being. There is a quality gap about adaptation and implementation of MBSR programs in community settings and among Hispanic immigrants. This K23 seeks to adapt and test the implementation of an MBSR intervention among under-resourced Hispanic immigrants in St. Louis guided by methods and frameworks from the field of dissemination and implementation (D\&I) science as applied to community settings. Implementation research of mindfulness-based interventions among Hispanic immigrant populations is justifiable under several conditions, including ineffective clinical engagement with this population, risk or resilience factors that are unique to the Hispanic community, and lack of cultural relevance of many evidence-based MBIs.