Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States.
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States.
Front Public Health. 2021 Nov 10;9:749627. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.749627. eCollection 2021.
There is a critical need to address mental health needs across the globe, especially in low and middle-income countries where mental health disparities are pervasive, including among children. The global mental health disparities suggest an imperative for culturally and contextually-congruent mental health services models that expand upon the existing services and interventions for these groups. Rigorous research is a key tool in providing the scientific evidence to inform public policy and practice efforts to effectively address these needs. Yet, there is a limited number of researchers, especially those from diverse backgrounds, who study these issues. In this paper, we describe the " (LEAD) program, a research training program funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and focused on global mental health disparities research for early career researchers from under-represented minority groups. The LEAD program is designed as a two-phase training program for advanced pre-doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty from diverse backgrounds in the U.S., including groups underrepresented in biomedical, behavioral, clinical and social sciences research, interested in global mental health disparities research. Trainees are matched with mentors and participate in an intensive 12-week program. The LEAD program seeks to provide a robust platform for the development, implementation and expansion of evidence-based culturally and contextually-congruent interventions and services models addressing global mental health disparities across the life cycle, especially in low-resource communities in the global context. By producing a sustainable network of well-trained investigators from underrepresented backgrounds, LEAD will potentially contribute to the shared lessons and efforts relevant to addressing global mental health disparities and improving care for vulnerable populations in low-resource settings.
全球范围内都迫切需要解决心理健康需求，特别是在中低收入国家，这些国家的心理健康差距普遍存在，包括儿童。全球心理健康差距表明，迫切需要建立文化和背景相符的心理健康服务模式，以扩大这些群体现有的服务和干预措施。严格的研究是为公共政策和实践提供科学证据的关键工具，以有效满足这些需求。然而，研究这些问题的研究人员，特别是来自不同背景的研究人员数量有限。在本文中，我们描述了“（LEAD）计划”，这是一个由国家少数民族健康和健康差异研究所资助的研究培训计划，专注于来自代表性不足的少数群体的早期职业研究人员的全球心理健康差异研究。 LEAD 计划旨在为来自美国不同背景的高级博士生、博士后研究员和初级教员设计一个为期两阶段的培训计划，包括在生物医学、行为、临床和社会科学研究中代表性不足的群体，对全球心理健康差异研究感兴趣。受训人员与导师配对，并参加为期 12 周的强化计划。 LEAD 计划旨在为制定、实施和扩大循证的、文化和背景相符的干预措施和服务模式提供一个强大的平台，以解决整个生命周期中的全球心理健康差异问题，特别是在全球背景下资源匮乏的社区。通过培养一个由代表性不足的背景的训练有素的调查人员组成的可持续网络，LEAD 将有助于分享解决全球心理健康差异和改善资源匮乏环境中弱势群体护理的相关经验和努力。
