Modeling Developmental Change in the ABCD Study: Longitudinal Analyses for Clinical Outcomes

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Project Summary/Abstract Abstract: This project will fund a five-day immersive workshop that will prepare junior and senior researchers alike to utilize the ABCD data for longitudinal investigations of brain development in relation to mental health. The workshop will focus on training researchers on reproducible neuroimaging methods, longitudinal modeling approaches, and clinical mental health outcomes, with equal emphasis on theory and application. The workshop will be composed of instructional, tutorial, roundtable, break-out session, and open hacking components. Workshop attendees will immediately apply what they learn during the workshop through group projects (“open hacking”) focused on applying longitudinal approaches to relate brain development to mental health measures in the ABCD dataset. The main outcome of this workshop will be that researchers leave with answers to questions about analyzing the longitudinal ABCD data, with a deeper understanding of the theory behind modeling approaches as well as analytic considerations for highly dimensional data. This will include training on robust methodology appropriate for clinical outcomes, as well as fostering collaboration between computational and clinical researchers across career stages. Another principal aim of this workshop is to contribute to national efforts to diversify the pool of highly trained biomedical researchers by recruiting a diverse group of attendees by eliminating participation barriers associated with social inequality, including financial burden, parenting, or disability, and by creating a safe and welcoming environment during the workshop. The immediate goal of this workshop is for attendees to acquire the following competencies: a) knowledge of analytical and statistical considerations specific to large-scale, open, longitudinal datasets; b) how to conduct reproducible research, with emphasis on secondary analysis of neuroimaging data; c) knowledge of theory behind longitudinal modeling and ability to apply these models using open-source software; d) design and execute investigations with clinically meaningful outcomes; e) identify social and environmental factors that impact the development of psychopathology; and f) communicate with researchers from diverse backgrounds and build interdisciplinary teams. The dissemination goals of the proposed workshop include forming working groups to publish papers and present at conferences, as well as making all code or analytic techniques developed during the workshop available in online repositories for the broader research community. A long-term goal of this workshop is to form sustainable interdisciplinary networks between researchers from development, clinical, and computational backgrounds as these areas of expertise are all needed to advance our understanding of the development of mental health.