Regional Network for Mental Health Research in Latin America

描述（由申请人提供）：我们拉丁美洲中心（HLA）的首要目标是改善拉丁美洲严重精神障碍患者的状况。为此，我们建议对缩小“心理健康差距”作出重点贡献。我们的长期目标是改善对严重精神障碍患者的保健服务，直到他们相当于向高度优先的一般健康状况患者提供的最佳保健服务。我们设想一个综合系统的初级保健和二级精神卫生服务，我们称之为社区卫生保健个人严重精神障碍（CHC-SMD）。我们采用多管齐下的方法，根据拉丁美洲城市地区的独特背景量身定制。在5年的资助期内，我们的目标是启动战略计划，为该地区的CHC-SMD取得重大进展，并建立一个长期持续进展的平台。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overriding objective of our Hub for Latin America (HLA) is to improve the condition of people with severe mental disorders in Latin America. We propose to do so by making a focused contribution to narrowing the "mental health gap". Our long-term goal is to improve health services for people with severe mental disorders until they are equivalent to the best health services offered to people with highly prioritized general health conditions. We envision an integrated system of primary care and secondary mental health services that we refer to as Community Health Care for individuals with Severe Mental Disorders (CHC-SMD). We adopt a multi-pronged approach that is tailored to the distinctive context of the urban areas of Latin America. Our goals for the 5-year grant period are to launch strategic initiatives that will generate significant progress toward CHC-SMD in this region, and to build a platform for ongoing progress over a longer time period. The HLA brings together key researchers and stakeholders from six cities across Latin America (Santiago, Chile; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Neuquen, Argentina; Medellin, Colombia) with researchers in New York City in a concerted effort to make progress toward a shared vision of CHC-SMD. The Components are designed to be synergistic so that the impact of the whole HLA is greater than the sum of its parts. The Research Component, for example, proposes to pilot a regional randomized controlled trial (RCT). In order for the HLA to proceed as planned to conduct a full scale regional RCT, the Capacity Building Component will need to train leaders at the HLA sites to conduct RCTs and coordinate regional studies. At the same time, the pilot RCT will help generate this capacity by providing practical experience in RCTs and regional studies. Our overall specific aims are (a) to deploy and evaluate task shifting approaches that can accelerate progress toward CHC-SMD; (b) to train young leaders with the capacities required to generate ongoing progress toward CHC-SMD; and (c) to bring together multiple stakeholders to contribute to implementing and shaping CHC-SMD.