Train and EMPOWER A Community Health Workforce (TEACH)
August 9, 2026 updated by: Katherine Sanchez, Baylor Research Institute
The investigators propose a multi-step approach to improve access to mental health care. The plan focuses on three goals: increasing diversity in the mental health workforce, bringing more expertise into the community, and strengthening the community's ability to address the factors that impact mental health.
To do this, the TEACH study team will work with students from underrepresented groups at a minority-serving institution (MSI). Students will be provided the opportunity to obtain their CHW Certification while receiving course credit for their degree. Students will then be eligible to participate in an internship to utilize their skills. The TEACH study team will help these students with their training, supervision, and ongoing support. These students will then be able to work with their communities to tackle common mental health issues and the social factors that contribute to those problems.
Study Overview
Status
Enrolling by invitation
Conditions
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Estimated)
250
Phase
- Not Applicable
Contacts and Locations
This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.
Study Locations
-
-
Texas
-
Arlington, Texas, United States, 76019
- The University of Texas at Arlington
-
Dallas, Texas, United States, 75204
- Baylor Scott and White Research Institute
-
-
Participation Criteria
Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.
Eligibility Criteria
Ages Eligible for Study
- Adult
- Older Adult
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No
Description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Must be enrolled as a UTA undergraduate student with unmet internship hours
- Must be aged 18 and over
- Must be able to provide informed consent.
- Must have successful completion of the UTA CHW/EMPOWER course (Phase 2) and/or State of Texas CHW certification (for non-EMPOWER-trained CHWs) at the start of internship
Exclusion Criteria:
- Under 18 years
- Not enrolled as an undergraduate student at UTA
- Unable to provide informed consent
- Non-successful completion of EMPOWER course and/or State of Texas CHW certification at the start of internship
Study Plan
This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.
How is the study designed?
Design Details
- Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
- Allocation: N/A
- Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
- Masking: None (Open Label)
Arms and Interventions
Participant Group / Arm |
Intervention / Treatment |
|---|---|
|
Experimental: EMPOWER-trained CHWs
Undergraduate students at the University of Texas at Arlington will engage in a semester-long course for training of students as CHWs with additional EMPOWER training for delivering a brief trans-diagnostic psychosocial intervention.
CHW certified students will then engage in an internship at Baylor Scott and White Health.
|
Students will participate in a special topics course resulting in a CHW certification with the state of Texas.
The course will focus on behavioral activation training.
Undergraduate Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students will then be deployed to the Baylor Scott and White Health system as certified CHWs with psychosocial training to provide a sufficient level of care for many, and an entry point to clinical care for those who have needs that are currently unaddressed.
|
What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Community Health Worker certification plus EMPOWER
Time Frame: Six months after consent/enrollment
|
Successful completion of the Special Topics course (to include EMPOWER training) which leads to CHW certification.
|
Six months after consent/enrollment
|
Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
|
Internship completion
Time Frame: Two semesters after the completion of the CHW course
|
Successful placement and completion of required undergraduate internship with TEACH partner, Baylor Scott and White Health System
|
Two semesters after the completion of the CHW course
|
|
Behavioral Activation (BA) competencies
Time Frame: Upon completion of the BA training as measured during the internship
|
Successful demonstration of competencies in BA skills as measured by the World Health Organization EQUIP tool (https://equipcompetency.org/)
|
Upon completion of the BA training as measured during the internship
|
Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
Sponsor
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Katherine Sanchez, PhD, LCSW, The University of Texas at Arlington
Publications and helpful links
The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.
General Publications
- Naslund JA, Tugnawat D, Anand A, Cooper Z, Dimidjian S, Fairburn CG, Hollon SD, Joshi U, Khan A, Lu C, Mitchell LM, Muke S, Nadkarni A, Ramaswamy R, Restivo JL, Shrivastava R, Singh A, Singla DR, Spiegelman D, Bhan A, Patel V. Digital training for non-specialist health workers to deliver a brief psychological treatment for depression in India: Protocol for a three-arm randomized controlled trial. Contemp Clin Trials. 2021 Mar;102:106267. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2021.106267. Epub 2021 Jan 6.
- Miller B, Burgos A. Enhancing the Capacity of the Mental Health and Addiction Workforce: A Framework. 2021. www.scattergoodfoundation.org
- Ma A, Sanchez A, Ma M. The Impact of Patient-Provider Race/Ethnicity Concordance on Provider Visits: Updated Evidence from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2019 Oct;6(5):1011-1020. doi: 10.1007/s40615-019-00602-y. Epub 2019 Jun 24.
- Chao PJ, Steffen JJ, Heiby EM. The effects of working alliance and client-clinician ethnic match on recovery status. Community Ment Health J. 2012 Feb;48(1):91-7. doi: 10.1007/s10597-011-9423-8. Epub 2011 Jun 17.
- Hoge MA, Stuart GW, Morris J, Flaherty MT, Paris M Jr, Goplerud E. Mental health and addiction workforce development: federal leadership is needed to address the growing crisis. Health Aff (Millwood). 2013 Nov;32(11):2005-12. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2013.0541.
Study record dates
These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.
Study Major Dates
Study Start (Actual)
August 6, 2024
Primary Completion (Estimated)
May 31, 2028
Study Completion (Estimated)
December 1, 2029
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
February 26, 2025
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
March 7, 2025
First Posted (Actual)
March 11, 2025
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
August 11, 2026
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
August 9, 2026
Last Verified
February 1, 2026
More Information
Terms related to this study
Keywords
Other Study ID Numbers
- 2024-0042.3
- 1U01MD019540-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)
Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)
Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?
NO
Drug and device information, study documents
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product
No
Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product
No
product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.
No
This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.