This project will develop a telephonic collaborative care model for opioid use disorder and depression and then conduct a pragmatic trial to test the model of care management primary care clinics in Washington state and Indiana.
Targeted Condition: Depression
Global Mental Health Databank (MindKind)
| The goal of this study is to learn how best to design a databank – a pool of data – about emotional health experiences from youth from around the world. The University of Washington is partnering with Sage Bionetworks to develop a user-friendly data platform for mental health interventions for youth. The overall scope of this project is to recruit 1,500 youth in South Africa, India, and the UK (each) to engage in a mental health intervention and both share their data and help co-design a user-friendly database for lay people, researchers and other key stakeholders. The University of Washington will provide global mental health expertise to Sage’s team to guide design, implementation, and interpretation of data collected. |
Lay-delivered behavioral activation in senior centers
| This collaborative study with Cornell Medical College and the University of Florida tests the effectiveness of “Do More, Feel Better” (DMFB), a lay health delivered behavioral intervention, in comparison to professionally-delivered Behavioral Activation. The specific aims are to test the effectiveness of “Do More, Feel Better” for depressed older adults on increasing overall activity level and reducing depression symptoms. |
Communication and Recovery Enhancement (CARE) clinical trial
This study aims to refine and test a brief intervention (CARE) that aims to promote recovery in recent sexual assault survivors. CARE is delivered to supporters of sexual assault survivors (e.g., friends, family members, romantic partners), with or without the survivor present. It aims to encourage conversations about the assault and decrease negative reactions by the supporter. In stage 1 of this study, we will conduct feedback sessions with 8-10 dyads of survivors and their supporters to finalize the intervention materials. In stage 2, we will conduct a pilot clinical trial of CARE with 60 dyads, who will be randomized to dyadic intervention, supporter-only intervention, or waitlist control.
Understanding mental health problems and health risk behaviors among LGBT Veterans
LGBT Veterans have faced a long history of stigma, discrimination, and exclusionary policies that were intended to exclude them from military service. Despite recent shifts in policy and increased staff trainings, existing evidence suggests that this group is at high risk for health disparities, particularly with respect to mental health and health risk behaviors. While informative, the research to date has been limited in several respects: cross-sectional designs, collapsing LGBT subgroups, severe lack of data on some subgroups, problems with identifying a comparison group, and lack of data on risk and protective factors and care experiences. This prospective cohort study will fill these gaps, recruiting and conducting surveys online with 1,600 Veterans to identify health disparities, test a conceptual model of prospective risk and protective factors, and assess VA utilization, barriers to care, and treatment preferences. Data from this study will inform future intervention efforts to achieve health equity for LGBT Veterans.
Pilot trial of a computerized treatment for mental health symptoms in primary care
This pilot study will leverage Veteran expertise to inform user-centered design improvements and will pilot the effectiveness of a computerized intervention targeting anxiety sensitivity among this patient population.
Evaluating Lifelines4Moms (ELM) Study
Perinatal depression affects 10-15% of pregnant and postpartum individuals, with detrimental impacts on both parent and infant. In response to this, our department developed a perinatal consultation line for providers, PAL for Moms, to increase access to specialty perinatal psychiatric expertise and care. The purpose of the Evaluating Lifeline4Moms (ELM) is to assess comparative effectiveness of PAL for Moms and other perinatal psychiatry access and referral programs in addressing maternal depression.
As a community-engaged research endeavor, ELM has convened patient advocates, policy experts, and perinatal clinicians, who oversee the study as partners and advisors. Over a period of three years, the research team will characterize the components, implementation timelines, and state policy contexts of access and referral programs; evaluate the reach and implementation of these programs; and examine the comparative effects on access to and quality of mental health treatment among Medicaid-insured perinatal individuals.
Developing pragmatic adherence measures for dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
This project aims to develop pragmatic self-report measures of: 1) clinician adherence to Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and 2) DBT program fidelity. These measures will be tested among DBT clinicians in routine practice settings to evaluate their reliability and validity.
Using technology to optimize Collaborative Care management of depression in urban and rural cancer centers (SCOPE)
This project aims to improve the treatment of depression in cancer patients. Up to 25% of people with cancer will become clinically depressed, significantly affecting their quality of life, functioning, and ability to tolerate cancer treatment. Unfortunately, about 75% of cancer patients with depression do not receive adequate treatment, and patients in rural settings are even less likely to receive adequate care. This study uses a human-centered design approach to develop, build, and test a web and mobile platform to enhance the implementation and fidelity of collaborative care management (CoCM) of depression for patients being treated at urban and rural cancer centers. In Phase I, patient-facing web and mobile applications and a clinician facing website will be developed. In Phase II, the technology-enhanced system will be compared to usual CoCM in a pragmatic effectiveness-implementation randomized controlled trial.
Disseminating a user-friendly guide: Advancing the science of intervention adaptation and improving access to evidence-based psychological treatment
Adaptation of evidence-based practices and programs (EBPs) is a necessary component of the implementation process. EBPs must be adapted to function with the constraints of real-world practice settings, providers’ expertise, and patients’ needs. The science of intervention adaptation is hungry for well-defined methods of EBP adaptation to guide decision making. A how-to guide for EBP adaptation titled MODIFI: Making Optimal Decisions for Intervention Flexibility during Implementation, is under development with NIMH funding (F32 MH116623). MODIFI will be disseminated via multiple strategies locally, nationally, and internationally. Dissemination of MODIFI will improve the practice of intervention adaptation by providing practitioners with a how-to guide that is (a) evidence-based, (b) usable, and (c) supported by the expert consensus of implementation practitioners and researchers.
