Critical Research Issues in Latino Mental Health

描述（由申请人提供）：在过去的几年中，由首席研究员领导的西班牙裔心理健康研究人员联盟每年举办关于西班牙裔心理健康问题和研究策略的全国会议，作为指导年轻研究人员的工具。这些会议激发了新的研究合作，并产生了大量科学出版物和随后获得资助的拨款申请。该会议已成为美国国立卫生研究院研究人员中代表性不足的其他少数群体的典范，以寻求刺激该领域所需的增长。尽管取得了重大进展，但任务仍远未完成。由于美国拉美裔人口的大规模扩张，在急需进行拉美裔心理健康研究的拉美裔和其他研究人员仍然严重短缺。该提案寻求对与西班牙裔人口相关的心理健康问题的一系列新的年度会议的支持，这些会议将交替主题和地点。主要目标是将有前途的新研究人员与资深研究人员聚集在一起，努力促进必要的网络和指导，以促进新研究人员进入西班牙裔心理健康研究。该计划将由一个由西班牙裔和非西班牙裔导师以及高级研究人员组成的组委会指导。美国西班牙裔精神病学家协会以及选定的“主办机构”将在每年的会议的共同主办中发挥作用，并将为规划和相关活动的构建做出贡献。每年平均会竞争性地选出二十名 (18-22) 名有前途的新研究者。这些新研究人员将与杰出的高级研究人员配对，期望会议上提交的论文将产生经过同行评审的出版物。会议还将邀请一位“主旨发言人”对会议主题进行综合概述。此外，我们还将举办由专家主持的关于具体研究问题（研究资助机会、资助写作技巧、研究方法）的特别会议。会议的成果将被跟踪，其中包括同行评审出版物的数量、新研究人员提交/资助的赠款、导师-受训者对的质量方面以及网络和新合作的衡量标准。 2007 年，即新奖项设立的第一年，我们建议于 2007 年 11 月在南佛罗里达州举行会议，地点稍后确定。 2007年会议的主题是“初级保健-心理健康伙伴关系：关注西班牙裔患者”。该提案寻求对与西班牙裔人口相关的心理健康问题的一系列新的年度会议的支持，这些会议将交替主题和地点。主要目标是将有前途的新研究人员与资深研究人员聚集在一起，努力促进必要的网络和指导，以促进新研究人员进入西班牙裔心理健康研究。刺激新的研究职业旨在改善美国拉美裔人的心理健康差异。造成这种差异的部分原因是缺乏关注少数民族心理健康的研究人员。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): For the last several years, a consortium of Hispanic Mental Health researchers led by the principal investigator has held annual national conferences on Hispanic Mental Health issues and research strategies as a vehicle for mentoring young investigators. These conferences have stimulated new research collaborations and led to numerous scientific publications and grant application submissions that were subsequently funded. The conference has been used as a model for other minority groups underrepresented among NIH researchers in their quest to stimulate needed growth in this area. Despite this significant progress, the task remains far from complete. There remains a serious shortage of Hispanic and other investigators working on Hispanic mental health research at a time of great need due to the massive expansion of the US Hispanic population. This proposal seeks support for a new series of yearly conferences on Mental Health issues relevant to Hispanic populations that will alternate theme and location. The major aim is to bring together promising new investigators with senior investigators in an effort to stimulate the networking and mentoring necessary to promote the entry of new investigators into Hispanic Mental Health research. The program will be guided by an organizing committee composed of Hispanic and non- Hispanic mentors and senior researchers. The American Society of Hispanic Psychiatrists as well as selected "host institutions" will play a role in co-sponsoring the conferences each year and will contribute to structuring the program and related activities. An average of twenty (18-22) promising new investigators will be competitively selected each year. These new investigators will be paired with outstanding senior investigators with the expectation that papers presented at the meeting will result in peer-reviewed publications. The conferences will also feature a "keynote speaker" to provide an integrative overview on the theme of the meeting. In addition, we will offer special sessions led by experts on specific research issues (research grant opportunities, grant writing skills, research methodology). Outcomes of the conference will be tracked and these will include number of peer reviewed publications, grants submitted/funded by the new investigators, quality aspects of mentor-mentee pairs and measures of networking and new collaborations. For 2007, the first year of the new award, we propose to hold the conference in November 2007 in South Florida at a location to be decided at a later time. The theme for the 2007 conference will be "Primary Care-Mental Health Partnerships: A Focus on Hispanic Patients". This proposal seeks support for a new series of yearly conferences on Mental Health issues relevant to Hispanic populations that will alternate theme and location. The major aim is to bring together promising new investigators with senior investigators in an effort to stimulate the networking and mentoring necessary to promote the entry of new investigators into Hispanic Mental Health research. The stimulation of new research careers is intended to improve the mental health disparities that are experienced among Hispanics in the US. The disparities have been partly attributed to the lack of available researchers focusing on mental health among ethnic minorities.