Our Research

Our work focuses on mitigating racial and ethnic mental health disparities through dissemination and implementation science.

 

Our work is driven by three interrelated pursuits:

Improving mental health care engagement. As many as 80% of youth of color with emotional, behavior, or social problems do not receive mental health care. When youth of color do receive mental health care, they are more likely to attend fewer sessions and to prematurely drop out of treatment than non-Hispanic White youth. One line of our work seeks to improve mental health care engagement for youth of color by facilitating implementation of evidence-based engagement practices, such as providing psychoeducation about mental illnesses and effective treatment options.

Representative Publications

  • Park, A. L., Boustani, M. M., Saifan, D., Gellatly, R., Letamendi, A., Stanick, C., Regan, J., Perez, G., Manners, D., Reding, M. E. J., & Chorpita, B. F. (2020). Community mental health professionals’ perceptions about engaging underserved populations. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 47, 366-379.

  • Becker, K. D., Park, A. L., Boustani, M. M., & Chorpita, B. F. (2019). A pilot study to examine the feasibility and acceptability of a coordinated intervention design to address treatment engagement challenges in school mental health services. Journal of School Psychology, 76, 78-88.

  • Baeza-Hernandez, K.*, Lasecke, M.*, Herman, A.*, Kim, J.*, Lin, J. M. J.*, Dosovitsky, G.*, Bunge, E. L., & Park, A. L. (2022). Pilot implementation of psychoeducational workshops on behavior management and stress management for parents and teachers. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 1-12.

Improving mental health care quality. Youth benefit more from evidence-based mental health interventions (i.e., interventions that research has found to be effective) than from usual mental health care. However, most youth referred to community or school mental health services do not receive evidence-based interventions, and youth of color are less likely to receive evidence-based interventions than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. A second line of our research aims to improve mental health care quality for youth of color by promoting the use of evidence in routine mental health care.

Representative Publications

  • Park, A. L., Becker, K. D., Boustani, M. M., & Chorpita, B. F. (2020). Decision-making in mental health care: Measuring provider and supervisor use of evidence. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 47, 344-356.

  • Park, A. L., Tsai, K. H., Guan, K., & Chorpita, B. F. (2018). Unintended consequences of evidence-based treatment policy reform: Is implementation the goal or the strategy for higher quality care? Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 45, 649-660.

  • Park, A. L., Chorpita, B. F., Regan, J., Weisz, J. R., & Research Network on Youth Mental Health. (2015). Integrity of evidence-based practice: Are providers modifying practice content or practice sequencing? Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(2), 186-196.

Improving mental health care outcomes. Although culturally adapting mental health care is often positively regarded, findings on the effectiveness of culturally adapted interventions versus unmodified interventions are inconclusive. To prevent possibly iatrogenic cultural modifications, scholars have proposed selective (i.e., using evidence to guide when to adapt interventions) and directed (i.e., using evidence to guide how to adapt interventions) adaptation. A third line of our research aims to improve mental health care outcomes for youth of color by designing decision-support tools for guiding when and how to adapt evidence-based interventions.

Representative Publications

  • Park, A. L., Rith-Najarian, L. R., Saifan, D., Gellatly, R., Huey, S. J., & Chorpita, B. F. (2022). Strategies for incorporating culture into psychosocial interventions for youth of color. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. doi: 10.1080/23794925.2022.2025629

  • Chorpita, B. F., Daleiden, E. L., Park, A. L., Ward. A., Levy, M., Cromley, T., Chiu, A., Letamendi, A., Tsai, K. H. & Krull, J. (2017). Child STEPs in California: A randomized effectiveness trial comparing modular treatment with community care for youth with anxiety, depression, conduct problems, or traumatic stress. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 85(1), 13-25.

  • Chorpita, B. F., Park, A. L., Tsai, K. H., Korathu-Larson, P., Higa-McMillan, C. K., Nakamura, B. J., Weisz, J. R., Krull, J., & Research Network on Youth Mental Health (2015). Balancing effectiveness with responsiveness: Therapist satisfaction across different treatment designs in the Child STEPs randomized effectiveness trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 83(4), 709-718.

*denotes student author