Culture and Mental Health Behavior Training Program

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposal seeks continuation of the NIMH training program in "Culture and Mental Health Behavior" in the Committee on Human Development at the University of Chicago. During the past decade the Committee has emerged as an internationally renowned and leading center for training and research on the cultural psychology of mental health and suffering. The NIMH training program in "Culture and Mental Health Behavior" has been a centerpiece of efforts to promote mental-health-relevant cultural research and culturally relevant mental health research. The program has two primary aims: 1) to train students who show special promise of contributing in their research and applied careers to understanding sociocultural and environmental predictors of mental health behavior and illness, and 2) to further the growth of the mental health sciences through interdisciplinary training in cultural psychology. The theoretical rationale for the Program grows out of the emerging interface between cultural psychology and clinically relevant anthropological research in understanding environmental contexts of well being, suffering, and healing. The Program trains students in the theory, methods, data collection, and analyses necessary to conduct research on similarities and differences in psychological functioning (whether it be emotional, motivational, moral, or cognitive functioning) across culturally diverse populations and ethnic communities. Various issues in multicultural health are at the core of the training program. As the United States becomes more heterogeneous ethnically, the need to adapt health care research and delivery to this diversity has become increasingly urgent. Likewise, the increasing international scope of mental health research efforts requires attention to cultural issues. Trainees in the "Culture and Mental Health" program are schooled in the theory, methods, data collection and analytic procedures necessary to conduct primary research on psychological functioning and mental health within and across diverse cultures and ethnic communities.