This competing continuation application seeks funding to continue the work of George Warren Brown (GWB) School of Social Work's Center for Mental Health Services Research.
We aim, over five years, to: (1) launch a significant research agenda on mental health in human service sectors of care; (2) deepen social work's research capacity; and (3) bring our school to a level where sustained research activity is institutionalized. Our area of core research is mental health service delivery to under-served groups through human service, """"""""non-specialty"""""""" sectors (child welfare, schools, and juvenile justice institutions, social services, and geriatric rehabilitation). While many at-risk groups depend on these sectors as their major source of mental health services, mental disorder is often undetected or untreated in these settings. Guided by lessons from mental health-primary care research, our Center will produce knowledge to enhance social service providers' ability to meet these needs. Toward that end, our faculty propose five pilots, an RO-1, two Research Enhancement Proposals, and an R0-3 study in the core area of study. To pursue these studies, our faculty require research enhancement support in three core areas: (1) detection of mental disorder in human service sectors; (2) development and testing of interventions, through which human service providers can better refer or directly provide care to persons with mental disorder; and (3) evaluation of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of treatment in human service sectors of care. We will support research and build our infrastructure through consultation from multidisciplinary experts, collaboration with researchers in Washington University's Department of Psychiatry, technical staff support, seminars and workshops, a permanent research enhancement collection, and core funding for pilot studies. We will extend the benefits of a Social Work Research Development Center (SWRDC) to faculty at other social work schools through an Adjunct Faculty Program. Outcomes will include at least six RO-1 proposals funded through NIH agencies, publications, and a core of well-trained pre- and post- doctoral fellows. We will continue our national leadership to the development of social work research capacity and to the transfer of research findings to providers and policy makers. While social work delivers the bulk of the nation's mental health services, it does not produce mental health research on a level commensurate with its service- provision. Continued support will position our school for national leadership around this gap, enable us to complete the long and challenging process of institutionalizing our research capacity, and support the production of scientific knowledge benefiting the larger mental health field.
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