GAD is a prevalent, chronic, and costly mental-health problem associated with decreased functioning, increased health-service utilization, and high risk for subsequent comorbid major depression. Although significant evidence supports the effectiveness of CBT for the treatment of GAD, Latinos have not benefited equally from these advances. Spanish-speaking Latinos have been routinely excluded in both efficacy and effectiveness studies. To address this disparity, it is essential that the benefits of clinical developments in interventions be made available to Spanish-speaking Latinos. This application requests a SCORE SC1 to conduct a randomized, controlled study of a culturally adapted, manualized CBT-based intervention for GAD to obtain preliminary estimates of its efficacy and to generate a treatment effect size estimate that will inform the design of a subsequent adequately-powered randomized controlled trial. This project seeks to lay the foundation for a full trial that will lead to the advancement of treatments for GAD among Spanish-speaking Latinos, particularly Puerto Ricans. The support provided by this award will foster the research competitiveness of the applicant to prepare a successful R01 grant application that will allow her to develop a programmatic line of research focused on making available to Spanish-speaking Latinos effective treatments for anxiety and depressive disorders. In a career development plan spanning four years, the applicant has delineated long-term goals and developmental objectives to prepare her to launch a highly productive career in clinical and translational research. The applicant's long-term goals are to become an R01 level investigator in the treatment of prevalent anxiety and depression disorders, to build a programmatic line of research that is focused on making innovative evidence- based treatments available to Latinos, to enhance her research skills and abilities enough to instruct and mentor Latino junior faculty, and to develop a highly productive career as a clinical and translational research scientist. The specific developmental objectives during the award period are to: strengthen knowledge of and experience in the design and implementation of GAD intervention research, particularly a CBT based intervention;develop expertise in providing treatment to GAD patients;strengthen knowledge and skills in the application of advanced statistical techniques relevant to clinical trials research;and improve grant-writing and manuscript preparation skills. .
GAD is a prevalent, chronic, and costly mental-health problem associated with decreased functioning, increased health-service utilization, and high risk for subsequent comorbid major depression. Although significant evidence supports the effectiveness of CBT for the treatment of GAD, Latinos have not benefited equally from these advances. This project seeks to obtain preliminary estimates of the effect size of a culturally adapted, manualized CBT-based intervention for GAD that will lay the foundation for a full trial that will lead to the advancement of treatments for GAD among Spanish-speaking Latinos, particularly Puerto Ricans.
| Vera, Mildred; Juarbe, Deborah; Hernández, Norberto et al. (2012) Probable Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Psychiatric Co-morbidity among Latino Primary Care Patients in Puerto Rico. J Depress Anxiety 1:124 |
