Prevention of Depression in Latino Parents

Clark University (Worcester, Ma), Worcester MA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Description (provided by applicant): This application is a request for a Scientist Development Award for New Minority Faculty (K01) that will enable Dr. Cardemil to continue to develop his programmatic line of research in the prevention of depression in Latinos. Depression is among the most prevalent of the major psychiatric disorders in the general population, and emerging evidence suggests that members of low-income racial/ethnic minorities may be particularly at-risk for its development. Research that develops and evaluates programs designed to prevent the development of depression in low-income racial/ethnic minorities may prove especially beneficial. Dr. Cardemil's training goals are to (1) broaden his conceptual knowledge in researching the prevention and treatment of depression, (2) enhance his experience with family- and child assessments and interventions for depression, (4) improve his methodological skills in order to effectively conduct large-scale randomized prevention trials, (5) acquire experience developing and evaluating a therapist-training program, (6) improve his statistical skills in order to more effectively evaluate longitudinal outcome data, and (7) improve his grant- and publication-writing skills. These training goals will be achieved through (1) the resources available at the Brown University Medical School, (2) the high quality of mentorship provided by Dr. Ivan Miller, Dr. Ricardo Mufioz, and Dr. Ronald Seifer, and the expertise of the assembled consultant team, (3) focused coursework and clinical experiences, and (4) the proposed research project. The proposed research project extends the natural progression of Dr. Cardemil's current depression prevention work under the auspices of a NRSA F32 fellowship. The F32 project is a cognitive-behavioral depression prevention program for low-income Latino parents that integrates 6 group-based interventions with 2 family-based interventions: the Family Coping Skills Program (FCSP). The specific research aims of this application are to (1) implement a randomized clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of the FCSP on Latino parents using both interviewer and self-report measures, (2) in an exploratory fashion, evaluate the effects of the FCSP on the family-level functioning in a subsample of the participants using both interviewer and self-report measures, (3) in an exploratory fashion, evaluate the effects of the FCSP on the children of a subsample of participants using both interviewer and self-report measures, and (4) develop and evaluate a therapist-training program for the efficacious delivery of the FCSP.