MHREG for Research in Ethnically Diverse Communities

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): As the nation becomes more racially and ethnically diverse, novel approaches to research and research education are needed to decrease the burden of mental illness. Mood disorders are a leading cause of disability and a powerful contributor to mortality, including deaths by suicide. Treatments for mood disorders among Blacks and Latinos require innovative research models responsive to economic disparities, culturally- mediated preferences and expectations of treatment, and the co-morbidities that disproportionately affect people of color such as substance misuse and medical illness. Meeting this scientific and public health challenge requires innovation in the education of clinical scientists. New collaborations involving university and community partners must be developed, given the central roles that community agencies play in the lives of the emerging majority, and the understandable reluctance of many ethnic minorities to seek treatment in the existing specialized mental health care delivery system. The Rochester Program of Research and Innovation in Disparities Education (Rochester PRIDE) is a novel training program designed to inspire and prepare trainees to conduct mental health research in partnership with community agencies. Over the next five years, we will 1) enhance our established research training partnerships with community agencies in a manner that facilitates trainee research, 2) recruit and educate at least 25 trainees from psychology and medicine in a core didactic curriculum that features a new, multidisciplinary seminar titled "Race, Socioeconomic Status and Health in the Urban Setting", 3) implement an innovative collaborative mentoring- precepting program that teaches trainees how to develop and implement research in community settings, 4) evaluate PRIDE by monitoring trainee outcomes and by soliciting and reviewing feedback from an external Evaluator, and 5) disseminate our findings by convening symposia and publishing peer-reviewed articles describing program design, implementation, and outcomes. This multidisciplinary research education program will be highly attractive to trainees who seek to gain skills and knowledge to conduct research in real-world settings. Rochester PRIDE will also serve as a model for other mental health training and educational programs designed to meet the nation's changing public health needs. By the end of the Award period, we will have sufficient experience and data to disseminate the program's findings and expand its scope by adding trainees interested in research on children and adolescents. As well, we will consider adding trainees at other developmental levels or from other disciplines.