New Survey Tool Reveals How Latinx Caregivers Seek Mental Health Help for Kids

What is it about?

We developed and tested a short, easy-to-use questionnaire (the Caregiver Support Services Questionnaire or CSSQ) that Latinx caregivers can complete on their own. It asks whether their child needed, or received, different types of mental health support—think therapy, school counseling, telepsychology, mentorship programs, and even community or religious help. We found that caregivers whose children show more emotional or behavioral issues report needing and using more services. The tool is reliable and valid for capturing both what help caregivers feel their child needs and what help they actually get.

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Photo by Cassidy Dickens on Unsplash

Photo by Cassidy Dickens on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Traditional ways to measure service use rely on interviews that are long, costly, and often miss newer forms of help (like telepsychology or mentorship). Our questionnaire fixes that—it’s quick, doesn’t need an interviewer, and covers a wide range of supports. This opens the door for large-scale studies that can pinpoint how and where Latinx families seek help, helping researchers, policy makers, and clinicians close gaps in access and tailor services more effectively. This summary was prepared using artificial intelligence.