Building Community Capacity for Disability Prevention for Minority Elders Diversity Supplement

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PROJECT SUMMARY The long-term goal of this Diversity Supplement Award is to prepare Dr. Mayra Sánchez González for an independent research career that aims to promote adaptive recovery for older adults following illness or injury, with the ultimate goal of optimizing quality of life. Although minority older adults represent the fastest growing segment of an aging US population, they have less access to mental health care and prevention of disability. Mental health illnesses, such as anxiety and depression, tend to follow a chronic episodic course that results in significant functional disability and negatively affect quality of life. Estimates suggest that up to one-third of individuals will experience a relapse and/or recurrence of mood disorder episodes following treatment. As minority older adults are at greater risk for severity, persistence, and recurrence of mental illness, studying the effectiveness of maintenance interventions to maintain psychological gains is instrumental to reduce disability and improve quality of life. Understanding clinically prognostic risk factors and sociocultural factors for diverse racial and ethnic populations can help to target maintenance-based interventions effectively, therefore maximizing cost-effectiveness and optimizing community-based intervention implementation. The specific research aims include (Aim 1) identify sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with accepting the E- PMSB group-based maintenance sessions among intervention participants; (Aim 2) examine whether intervention participants who receive the maintenance sessions are less likely to experience a relapse and/or recurrence of mental health symptoms; and (Aim 3) conditional on accepting and receiving the maintenance sessions, identify who benefits from the maintenance intervention using qualitative methods. The proposed research and career development activities will allow Dr. Sánchez González to maintain her current faculty position at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), while engaging in the project remotely at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Sánchez González has formed a strong team of content experts in health disparities, disability, and psychological and behavioral interventions. Immersed in JHU and MGH’s rich training environments, Dr. Sánchez González will achieve the following career goals through dedicated mentorship, didactic experiences, and professional development opportunities: (1) develop methodological expertise in advanced quantitative methods for the analysis of longitudinal data and health disparities, including multilevel modeling; (2) obtain training in qualitative methods to aid in identifying who benefits from clinical maintenance interventions; (3) obtain training in the assessment of implementation and dissemination science, including the successful implementation of public health interventions; (4) build her publication profile as an early career clinician scientist; and (5) develop and submit a successfully funded grant application for an NIA Mentored Scientists Development Award (K23) to transition to a career as an independent researcher.