Developing Community-Based Interventions for American Indian Mental Health

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): My long term career goal is to develop a research program that addresses disparities in mental health services for marginalized, traumatized and underserved populations. I hope to conduct community-based services intervention research that results in: (a) evidence-based and culturally-relevant interventions; (b) consumer-driven interventions that reduce barriers to mental health care; and (c) theoretical and applied contributions to psychology as a discipline concerned with the mental health and well-being of diverse individuals and groups. Most of my previous work has been with refugee populations. In this career award application, I propose a set of training goals and research activities that will prepare me to work successfully with American Indian populations. Initially I propose to focus on Navajo youth and to obtain training in: (1) American Indian mental health; (2) ethnographic methods and methodology; (3) clinical perspectives on the character and treatment of trauma-related disorders; (4) quantitative data analysis and research design strategies; and (5) ethical issues in community-based mental health intervention research, and research with American Indians. I will achieve these goals through a comprehensive training plan (coursework, independent study, and site visits with local and national mentors), and through mentored execution of research that involves ethnographic assessment of the mental health conditions and stressors experienced by Navajo adolescents and their families and the design and pre-testing of a community-based participatory intervention model for this population. University of New Mexico is an excellent environment in which to pursue these goals. The Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and collaborating programs in Psychiatry, Family and Community Medicine, the Center for Native American Health, and the Behavioral Health Center of the Southwest, have an outstanding history of participatory research, success in developing and testing culturally-appropriate interventions, and strong connections to American Indian communities. Relevance: American Indians have endured a history of genocide and oppression, which has resulted in intergenerational trauma and disproportionately high prevalence of mental health disorders and substance abuse. Available mental health services are often not culturally appropriate. These factors have contributed to numerous disparities, which the proposed training and research are designed to address.