The PI, Stacey I. Kaltman, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist who wishes to gain the skills and knowledge required to be an independent mental health services researcher focused on understanding and ameliorating disparities in access to and use of mental health services among low-income Latino immigrants in the US. The overall goal of this proposal is to gain an understanding of trauma and loss-related mental health needs of Latina immigrants from Central America and begin to develop culturally and linguistically competent services that are acceptable, effective, and accessible. This will be achieved via extensive training in Spanish as well as instruction in public health theory and methods. The specific training goals of the proposal are: 1) to increase cultural and linguistic competence to work with Latina immigrants with trauma exposure;2) to utilize qualitative research methods to learn from the Latina immigrant's perspective about symptom perception, influences on help-seeking, and characteristics of culturally relevant interventions;3) to apply formative research to the development and evaluation of community-based interventions;and 4) to enhance quantitative data analysis skills, building toward competence in longitudinal data analysis techniques that will be applied to intervention trials and program evaluations. The primary mentor will be Bonnie L. Green, PhD, with co-mentor Maria Cecilia Zea, PhD. Training will employ a balance of didactic coursework, mentored tutorials and critical discussions, and ongoing participation in research work groups. The research plan includes three studies, which encompass four research aims that relate directly to the training goals: 1) To study trauma and loss exposure and its mental health impact from the perspective of low-income Latina immigrants from Central America in community service settings;2) To examine the mental and physical health correlates of trauma and loss exposure in a random sample of Central American immigrants who are engaged with community service settings;3) To understand influences on symptom perception, predictors of help-seeking, and perceptions of culturally relevant trauma and loss-related mental health interventions among Central American immigrants;and 4) To develop and preliminarily pilot an adapted community-based intervention to address the specific trauma and loss-related mental health needs of Central American immigrants.
| Kaltman, Stacey; Hurtado de Mendoza, Alejandra; Serrano, Adriana et al. (2016) A mental health intervention strategy for low-income, trauma-exposed Latina immigrants in primary care: A preliminary study. Am J Orthopsychiatry 86:345-54 |
| Hurtado-de-Mendoza, Alejandra; Serrano, Adriana; Gonzales, Felisa A et al. (2016) Trauma-Exposed Latina Immigrants' Networks: A Social Network Analysis Approach. J Lat Psychol 4:232-247 |
| Hurtado-de-Mendoza, Alejandra; Gonzales, Felisa A; Serrano, Adriana et al. (2014) Social isolation and perceived barriers to establishing social networks among Latina immigrants. Am J Community Psychol 53:73-82 |
| Santiago, Catherine DeCarlo; Kaltman, Stacey; Miranda, Jeanne (2013) Poverty and mental health: how do low-income adults and children fare in psychotherapy? J Clin Psychol 69:115-26 |
| Kaltman, Stacey; Hurtado de Mendoza, Alejandra; Gonzales, Felisa A et al. (2011) Contextualizing the trauma experience of women immigrants from Central America, South America, and Mexico. J Trauma Stress 24:635-42 |
| Kaltman, Stacey; Pauk, Jennifer; Alter, Carol L (2011) Meeting the mental health needs of low-income immigrants in primary care: a community adaptation of an evidence-based model. Am J Orthopsychiatry 81:543-51 |
