Table 5 Therapeutic effects

Cognitive behavioral therapy

“The point is to always be aware of what our body is feeling because sometimes we don’t notice and you are getting better.” Female, age 35, Spanish interview

Thought replacement

“She helped me to be able to identify and be able to reject those situations (participant speaking about when she felt lonely or isolated).” Female, age 58, Spanish interview

Acceptance and commitment therapy

“She helped me to accept what was happening because I was the only one who didn’t. But [the CHW relationship] helped me a lot.” (participant sharing about her partner’s extra marital affair) Female, age 31, Spanish interview

Biofeedback

“She told me that [depression] could be managed. We can involve our mind with other things, as with exercise, just getting outdoors, getting up, washing our face, to always think positively.” Female, age 58, Spanish interview

Behavioral activation

“You forget about everything and focus only on the exercise and [when] that helps you release the stress and gets you out of a bad environment. She always recommended that I go out.” Female, age 31, Spanish interview

Distraction techniques

“She recommended that I distract myself with the children. That I take them out to the park, that I not spend time thinking.” Female, age 35, Spanish interview

Harm reduction

“I was like, you know what? I’m going to stop drinking soda, and maybe I’ll drink apple juice, which I didn’t know also contains a lot of sugar and stuff like that.” Male, age 43, English interview

Psycho-education

“Sometimes a lot of people who are depressed have a tendency to gain weight or let themselves go and that always motivated us; exercising is good for many things, like overcoming a depression.” Female, age 33, Spanish interview

Positive self-talk

“I told her I felt very good because I followed all her indications and the diets, the size of the servings, and all that, right? And, I also put a great effort into it, and I saw everything was going well.” Female, age 71, Spanish interview

Constant positive regard

“Like when I was sad or something or she’d see me looking sad, she would always ask me if I was all right,” and she’d tell me, “don’t worry, you’ll get through it,” just motivating me, during my problems. Female, age 39, Spanish interview

Processing emotions

“Well, one can open up more to them and we feel more confident in being able to express…maybe even discuss those problems that are not even part of the program, but they would listen and help us, and it helped me a lot …and well, I would like to do it again.” Female, age 58, Spanish interview