Family-context Interventions Research Training Program

Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Interventions research is a complex endeavor. This is particularly true when focused on children and adolescents, in part because their lives occur within a multi-system social context extending from the self and family out to the community. The NIMH National Advisory Mental Health Council Workgroup on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Intervention Development and Deployment recently called for capacity building efforts in the area of child and adolescent interventions research, the proposed training program is a response to this call. However, we believe that it will be beneficial for this capacity building to focus not just on child and adolescent interventions but more broadly on interventions that involve the family as the social context of the client. As with children and adolescents, couples, parents and other family members are part of an interactive, multi-system social context. Therefore, we believe that there is a need for capacity building that centers more broadly on interventions research focusing on the family, as the center of a multi-system social context surrounding clients. The proposed training program is based on four core principals: (a) development of intervention programs should flow directly out of knowledge of etiological and perpetuating factors that support psychopathology. Links between interventions and psychopathology research may suggest potential targets for intervention, and identify disorder sub-types that may respond differentially to treatment; (b) etiological and perpetuating factors for psychopathology are multi-systemic. Psychopathology in children, adolescents and their families almost always occurs within the context of multiple social and biological systems, including the self, neuro-endocrine, family, peer, etc. systems. Thus, a multi-systemic approach to interventions research is crucial; (c) these social systems and psychopathology occur within the context of life-span development. An individual or system's dysfunction only can be understand within the context of normative development. To understand the processes underlying abnormal functioning, normative developmental processes and the tasks that an individual faces first must be understood, since psychopathology often represents a failure to adaptively solve these normative developmental tasks; (d) an inter-disciplinary, collaborative approach is essential for conducting interventions research with children, adolescents and families, given the complex, multisystemic nature of their social context and hence the interventions. The proposed training program requests funds for three predoctoral and five post-doctoral (Ph.D., M.D., Psy.D.) positions. The foundation of the training program is an apprenticeship based research mentorship, where the trainee becomes integrated into the mentor's research team, and learns about research question development, project development and implementation, clinical issues in interventions research, outcome assessment, data analysis, etc. A weekly pro-seminar focusing on interventions research and family context issues provides trainees with a structured learning opportunity. The pro-seminar is based on Key Content Area modules that cover specific topic areas (e.g., attrition) and Visiting Scholar modules, where visitors from other research institutions come to discuss their work. Other training options, such as courses in advanced quantitative methods or seminars in developmental psychopathology, also are available for trainees. [unreadable] [unreadable]