Mercy Ministries of Laredo Sí Three: Integration of 3-D Health Services Final Report

Mercy Ministries of Laredo (Mercy) is a primary healthcare clinic located in Webb County, Texas. The clinic provides healthcare and health education to some of the poorest neighborhoods and unincorporated areas in the United States. Mercy began implementing the Sí Three program and the evaluation study in the Laredo clinic in January 2016. The Sí Three program expanded Mercy’s efforts to integrate behavioral health, including optional faith-based behavioral health services, into primary healthcare services.

Study Goals:

The study evaluated the Sí Three program’s impact by comparing program participants to patients who did not participate in the program, using two different comparison groups.

The implementation evaluation focused on measuring the level of program services provided and the quality of services program participants received relative to what was proposed. It also assessed the extent to which the comparison groups received program services similar to services received by the intervention group.

Research Questions:

The evaluation included a number of impact and implementation questions. Sample research questions include:

• Impact Questions:
  • Compared to patients who do not participate, do patients who participate in the Sí Three intervention experience improvements in:
    • Depressive symptoms after 12 months?
    • BMI after 12 months?
    • Anxiety symptoms after 12 months?
    • Addiction symptoms after 12 months?
    • Blood pressure?
• Implementation Questions:
  • Did the Sí Three program reach its intended target population?
  • What are the components of the Sí Three program and how do these components work “on the ground” at 6 and 12 months?
  • What level of integrated behavioral health did Mercy Ministries achieve as a result of implementing the Sí Three program?

Findings:

The study found the following:

• The program was implemented with strong fidelity.
• For patients, additional factors that facilitated their participation included:
  • the low cost of services,
  • clinic staff flexibility to meet their needs,
  • strong rapport between patients and staff, and
  • support for patient transportation services.
• The Sí Three program improved behavioral health among intervention participants.

For more information, download the full report and report brief.