Research issues for improving treatment of U.S. Hispanics with persistent mental disorders.
This article reports on the outcome of an expert consensus meeting in August 2005 sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health, which assembled 15 senior researchers with a background in treatment and services research with the Hispanic population. The purpose of the workshop was to identify research issues most pertinent for improving quality and effectiveness of treatment for Hispanics experiencing persistent mental disorders, defined as psychiatric syndromes that are of sufficient severity and duration to cause long-term impairment in social and occupational functioning and significant disability. The spectrum of ideas and recommendations advanced at the one-day meeting was wide and overlapping; therefore, the rich body of material was subsequently organized into five topics: diagnosis, quality of care and culturally appropriate services, psychosocial intervention development, psychopharmacologic interventions, and access to care. Although the authors recognize that the review was broad and the agenda presented is ambitious and in many instances generalizes to priority areas in overall mental health services and treatment research, the recommendations are intended to stimulate research for addressing the unique problems and research deficits that affect Hispanics with persistent mental disorders.
Vega
William Armando
WA
Department of Psychiatry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. vegawa@umdnj.edu
Karno
Marvin
M
Alegria
Margerita
M
Alvidrez
Jennifer
J
Bernal
Guillermo
G
Escamilla
Michael
M
Escobar
Javier
J
Guarnaccia
Peter
P
Jenkins
Janis
J
Kopelowicz
Alex
A
Lagomasino
Isabel T
IT
Lewis-Fernandez
Roberto
R
Marin
Humberto
H
Lopez
Steven
S
Loue
Sana
S
D035843:Biomedical Research; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006302:Health Services Research; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology