Pilot Evaluation of an Interdisciplinary Psychoeducational Mental Health Intervention for Men In Community Reentry Housing

Background and Purpose:
Justice-involved individuals residing in community reentry housing experience elevated rates of mental health concerns yet often have limited access to psychoeducational and preventive mental health programming during reentry. Despite these needs, reentry settings remain underexamined as sites for preventive mental health intervention. Simultaneously, health professions trainees benefit from interdisciplinary training opportunities that promote collaborative, community-engaged mental health practice. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of an interdisciplinary psychoeducational mental health intervention delivered by social work faculty and medical students to adult men residing in a halfway house.

Methods:
Using a community-engaged approach, a needs assessment was conducted with halfway house residents to identify priority mental health topics for psychoeducational programming. Findings informed development of two 60-minute interactive workshops focused on (1) stress, anxiety, and coping and (2) depression. Workshops were delivered in small-group format using a Socratic, discussion-based facilitation model designed to promote participant reflection, dialogue, and collaborative learning. A pilot mixed-methods pretest-posttest evaluation design was used. Participants (N = 50) completed pre- and post-workshop surveys assessing self-rated understanding of workshop content domains using Likert-scale items. Paired-samples t-tests examined pre-post changes in perceived understanding. Open-ended feedback regarding workshop strengths and areas for improvement was analyzed using thematic analysis.

Findings:
Participants demonstrated statistically significant increases in self-rated understanding across multiple workshop domains. In the stress/anxiety module, participants reported statistically significant gains on 4 of 6 assessed domains, including understanding coping strategies for stress, distinguishing stress from anxiety, and identifying generalized anxiety disorder and its symptoms (p = .005–.025), while no significant change was observed for definitions of stress or awareness of local mental health resources. In the depression module, participants demonstrated statistically significant improvement on all 6 assessed domains (p = .001–.014), including understanding depression definitions, depression subtypes, signs and symptoms, treatment approaches, coping strategies, and mental health resources. Qualitative findings indicated that participants valued the interactive discussion-based format of both workshops. Anxiety workshop feedback more frequently emphasized facilitator approachability and supportive group dialogue, whereas depression workshop feedback more often highlighted appreciation for specific psychoeducational content and practical coping strategies. Across both modules, participants recommended longer sessions and expanded discussion of community mental health resources.

Conclusion and Implications:
Preliminary findings suggest that interdisciplinary, discussion-based psychoeducational interventions may be a feasible and acceptable approach to increasing mental health literacy among men in community reentry housing. Findings support the potential utility of reentry housing settings as sites for preventive mental health education and highlight the value of interdisciplinary community-engaged training models for preparing future health professionals to deliver mental health programming in underserved community settings.