Research Core-MHD

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Project Summary Research MHD Core D Racial, ethnic, sexual, and gender minority populations are the least likely to benefit from medical advances in HIV prevention and treatment, and the most susceptible to comorbid HIV-related mental health (MH) problems affecting all aspects of the HIV prevention and care continua. South Florida – Miami in particular – a US HIV/AIDS epicenter and home to one of the largest populations of racial, ethnic and sexual/gender minority individuals at risk for and living with HIV/AIDS in the nation, is an ideal setting for advancing research to address HIV-related MH disparities. The environment includes multiple risks and disadvantages that set the stage for disparities in access to and utilization of HIV and MH services and in HIV/AIDS and MH outcomes. The Mental Health Disparities (MHD) Core of the University of Miami Development AIDS Research Center (UM D-ARC) will promote research to understand, assess, and intervene with sociocultural and structural drivers at the intersection of HIV and MH disparities. The MHD Core will provide expert consultation, develop and expand research resources (measures library and consent-to-contact databases), and engage with community stakeholders to achieve the following Specific Aims: (1) promote culturally competent, theory-driven assessment approaches and interventions that will result in rigorous, high-impact research to address MH and minority health disparities in HIV/AIDS prevention and care; (2) facilitate and maximize the impact of community-engaged and responsive MH and HIV research through bi-directional collaboration of UM investigators with community stakeholders and engagement of potential research participants from hard-to-reach at-risk populations; and (3) provide Human Subjects consultation and support to D-ARC investigators to ensure that risks, fairness, consent, and data quality/safety are addressed when working with vulnerable populations. The MHD Core will work in synchrony with the Developmental Core to equip investigators to conduct rigorous, ethical, multi-level research that addresses disparities in HIV and MH. It will complement the Methods Core in that the Methods Core will provide D-ARC users with general research methods and biostatistical analysis support, and the MHD core will provide UM users with more specific research support on considerations when working with diverse and underserved populations affected by MH and other HIV prevention and treatment related disparities. The MHD core will therefore promote innovative and theory- driven research approaches, stimulating research in synchrony with the UM D-ARC mission of Reducing the Impact of Mental Health and Minority Health Disparities across the HIV Prevention and Care Continua.