Asian American Center on Disparities Research

这项申请建立了亚裔美国人差异研究中心（AACDR）。AACDR建立在亚裔美国人心理健康研究中心（NRCAAMH）自1988年以来开展的亚裔美国人心理健康问题研究项目的基础上。AACDR的研究议程是调查文化因素如何促进或减轻针对亚裔美国人的循证治疗的实施和有效性。该中心的目标是：(1)开展纲领性的、以问题为导向的研究，对亚裔美国人进行有效临床治疗的实证测试；(2)开展对亚裔美国人特别是心理健康领域具有理论和政策意义的研究；(3)促进和开展研究，解决多样性和差异研究中涉及的关键方法问题；(4)通过维护和加强研究人员、服务提供者和政策制定者的网络，促进理论和方法的发展，成为研究人员在全国范围内开展亚裔美国人差异研究的焦点和激励因素；(5)将科学与心理健康实践联系起来，特别是关于影响治疗和服务提供的关键问题的文化影响，如医疗不依从和过早辍学。该中心的临床效果研究项目测试了亚裔美国人抑郁症循证治疗的有效性，并确定了缓和这些干预效果的文化变量。治疗师因素研究项目确定与文化能力相关的治疗师特征和循证实践的使用是否相互作用或独立影响心理健康门诊客户的治疗结果。药物依从性研究项目开发并测试了一种以文化为目标的干预措施的有效性，该干预措施旨在改善亚裔美国抑郁症患者的药物依从性。

This application establishes the Asian American Center on Disparities Research (AACDR). AACDR builds upon a program of research on the mental health issues of Asian American populations that had been carried on since 1988 by the National Research Center on Asian American Mental Health (NRCAAMH). AACDR pursues a research agenda that investigates how cultural factors work to either enhance or mitigate the implementation and effectiveness of evidence-based treatments for Asian American clients. The center's objectives are to (1) conduct programmatic, problem-oriented research toward the empirical testing of effective clinical treatments for Asian American populations; (2) conduct research that has theoretical and policy significance for Asian Americans in particular and the mental health field in general; (3) promote and conduct research that addresses key methodological issues involved in the study of diversity and disparities; (4) be the focal point and stimulus for researchers conducting Asian American disparities research on a national level by maintaining and enhancing a network of researchers, service providers, and policy makers to facilitate theory and methodology development; and (5) bridge science into mental health practice, in particular, concerning cultural influences that affect critical problems of treatment and service delivery such as medical non-adherence and premature dropout. The center's Clinical Effectiveness Research Program tests the effectiveness of evidence-based treatments for depression for Asian American clients and identifies the cultural variables that moderate the effects of these interventions. The Therapist Factors Research Program determines if therapist characteristics associated with cultural competence and the use of evidence-based practices interact or independently affect treatment outcomes for mental health outpatient clients. The Medication Adherence Research Program develops and tests the effectiveness of a culturally targeted intervention designed to improve medication adherence among depressed Asian American clients. Disparities in health care refer to the differential treatment of patients on the basis of race or ethnicity that is not explained by underlying health conditions or treatment preferences of patients (Institute of Medicine, 2002). Since 1978, various presidential commissions have concluded that the disparities were not so much due to racial and ethnic differences in rates of psychopathology but were due to inaccessible and ineffective treatment. Thus, one critical task is to improve therapeutic effectiveness and quality of care for these clients. Essentially, the center's research mission is devoted to and focused on this latter aspect of disparity-cultural factors that affect the effectiveness of treatment.