Approaches to Improve Youth Psychotropic Services

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This revised K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award application seeks five years of funding to enhance the candidate's methodological and clinical training so that she may better evaluate clinical practice related to psychopharmacologic treatments for youths. The objectives are a) to gain a better understanding of the processes by which parents and adolescents seek mental health treatment for ADHD and physicians provide care, and b) to determine how these interpersonal processes impact the delivery of care. This knowledge should facilitate future research aimed at improving the quality of youth psychopharmacologic treatment. The candidate's background includes clinical training in pharmacy as well as academic and research experience in pharmacoepidemiology, survey research, consumer attitudes and satisfaction, secondary analyses of large computerized databases, and youth psychopharmacologic research. This provides a strong foundation for the K01. The career development plan complements these skills by enhancing her knowledge of developmental psychology, child psychopathology and psychiatric assessments, qualitative methods, longitudinal analyses, and clinical management of youth mental health problems in primary care, mental health, and school settings. This training is necessary to conduct empirical research in community settings. There will be 180 parents and their children aged 6-18 recruited from primary care, mental health, and school settings. Parents and adolescents will be interviewed regarding their treatment-seeking strategies and physicians will be asked about their practice behavior. Their responses will be used to identify common underlying "themes" that represent their views towards psychopharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment. Longitudinal analyses will be used to determine whether these "themes" influence psychopharmacologic treatment and services. This will clarify how youth mental health treatments are adopted in clinical settings, and will explore alternative methods for improving psychopharmacologic treatments for youths.