Summer Training Program in Integrative Methods for Mental and Physical Health

University Of Michigan At Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Summary The goal of this proposal is to continue and expand our state-of-the-art, interdisciplinary training program to enhance the methodological skills of early-career scientists conducting integrative health research. Mental and physical health outcomes, and the differences we see across populations, are shaped by social, behavioral, biological, and environmental factors. However, scientific training on these various factors is often siloed across disciplines and professions. This lack of integration results in inefficiencies in the growth of scientific knowledge, limits cross-pollination in interdisciplinary teams, and fosters a piecemeal approach to clinical care and health services that fails to meet the needs of individuals with complex health conditions, including those from disadvantaged or minority communities. In 2020, we launched the first NIH-funded training program focused on building methodological expertise in integrative health, including research on health disparities across populations. The proposed continuation of the Summer Training Program in Integrative Methods for Mental and Physical Health will develop the research skills of multidisciplinary cohorts of early-career scientists on the intersections between social, behavioral, biological, and environmental aspects of health, with attention to how these intersections contribute to health disparities across populations. This program uses case-based, applied learning to help trainees explicitly link theoretical models that inform empirical research to the study designs and analytic tools appropriate for examining mental and physical health outcomes and how they vary across populations. This is a hybrid training program, consisting of a 3-day residential summer institute which is paired with 9-months of ongoing virtual mentoring and networking building with senior scholars and peer alumni, and additional didactic training via webinars. Trainees propose and workshop a research project over this period, where they directly apply the knowledge and skills they gain through the program. This program is designed to attract three types of trainees: (i) Behavioral/social scientists who are interested in learning how to incorporate and analyze biomedical measures; (ii) Clinical/health services researchers interested in assessing psychosocial and environmental aspects of health; and (iii) Health researchers who want to employ a more comprehensive approach in their work. The continued success of this program will be evaluated by assessing trainee skills development, research performance, and sustainable capacity building. Program Leadership has an established track record of training a wide range of early-career investigators through their leadership of several Center-based education programs. This renewal will apply the lessons-learned from our decades of training experience, our strong Institutional Resource Partners, our established national network of Senior Mentors, and our growing network of Peer Alumni Mentors, in a focused program centered on building the scientific skills necessary to expand the field of interdisciplinary, integrative health science.