Caminando Juntos: A proof-of-concept study of a family psychosocial intervention for Latinx immigrant families in the U.S.

Abstract

Introduction. Latinx immigrants in the United States face many structural-level stressors, including access to healthcare and anti-immigrant policies, as well as acculturative stressors. All of these stressors can impact how the family functions, which can then impact mental health outcomes. Few family-level interventions have been developed to provide skills for coping and allow all family members to join together. Caminando Juntos, a culturally-adapted psychosocial intervention, aims to fill this gap for Latinx families. Methods. Caminando Juntos was adapted for Latinx immigrant families from an intervention called Coping Together through active participation and input from the Latinx community. A small, proof-of-concept study of Caminando Juntos was conducted in the summer of 2025 in the South Side of Milwaukee. Four participating families (six caregivers and four children) attended the eight-session intervention and completed both pre-post assessments to measure changes in family well-being and post-session surveys to assess perceptions of the intervention content. This data was analyzed to understand acceptability of the culturally adapted intervention and initial reported changes in family well-being from baseline to endline. Results. All of the intervention sessions and individual activities were rated as highly acceptable by participants, including both culturally-adapted (average rating of 4.78/5) and non-culturally-adapted activities (average rating of 4.69/5). Perceived family well-being changes were highly variable by family and individual, with some families showing improvements, some showing variation by measure and reporter, and some showing declines in perceived functioning. Discussion. High ratings on all of the intervention sessions and activities suggest that the intervention was acceptable in this sample and appropriate for larger-scale implementation, which could provide more nuanced views into the acceptability of specific sessions or activities. The varied perceptions of family well-being at baseline and endline do not align with expected increases in perceived family well-being across families, raising concerns about mixed effects of the intervention, large influences of external stressors, and validity of the measures. Next steps include analysis of available qualitative data to better contextualize results and identify if quantitative results match how participants describe the changes following the intervention in their own words.