Culture, Community, and Global
Mental Health Research Lab
Palo Alto University
Research Projects
Partnership with San Francisco International High School
Refugee Mental Health
This is a community collaboration project, with the Center for Survivors of Torture, a refugee mental health clinic housed within the Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) in San Jose. Data collection is on going to assess risk and resiliency, treatment trajectories, and psychosocial functioning across a broad spectrum of indices (e.g., adaptive functioning, mental health, etc.). Current studies include a program evaluation of community outreach and engagement efforts for a diverse population of adult refugees (e.g., stigma-reduction videos), refugee coping strategies, and an evaluation of treatment outcomes over time. Research group members are on site collaborating on data collection, as well as assisting with conference presentations and future manuscripts.
Adolescent Immigration and Acculturation
This area of research includes two projects: (1) A community-based collaboration with San Francisco and Oakland International High Schools, to assess needs and learn about trajectories of risk and resilience for newcomer immigrant adolescents, many of whom are unaccompanied minors from Central America. Data collection is ongoing and research assistants are on site at both locations collaborating with school personnel and interviewing/ collecting data from high school students (in English, Spanish, Cantonese). (2) An archival dataset includes 200 newcomer immigrant high school students from 40 countries of origin. Quantitative data include information on daily stressors for inner-city minority youth (e.g., discrimination, family conflict, socioeconomic problems), DSM-related symptom profiles (anxiety, depression, behavioral problems), academic achievement and school engagement, coping strategies, neighborhood composition, and ethnic identity. Qualitative, interview data include narratives about family, school, coping with stress, and general stories related to immigration and acculturation. Research group members are involved in conceptualizing and carrying out studies based on this data, presenting at conferences, and writing manuscripts for publication.
Community Mental Health in Africa
This area or research includes two international collaborative projects:
(1) Dr. Patel is an Associate Principal Investigator for a consortium-based project aimed to implement and evaluate an intervention to heal trauma and build peace through education in the Central African Republic (Central African Interfaith Peacebuilding Partnership USAID RFA-OAA-15-000017). This project includes focus group development and ongoing data collection in-country, in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services, to assess trauma symptoms, train local leaders to deliver trauma workshops, and evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
(2) Dr. Patel is a Research Fellow with the Africa Mental Health Foundation, where she has worked on various projects related to community mental health in Kenya. Ongoing collaborative work includes a study of the role of traditional and faith healers for treatment of mental illness, clinical treatment of trauma, and inter-scholar exchanges with current PAU students who worked in Nairobi to conduct training workshops, provide clinical services for trauma, and develop collaborative scholarship.
Mental Health Services for Limited English Proficiency Clients
A qualitative dataset is available from a larger parent study conducted through UCSF and UC Berkeley, examining policies that target mental health services for Spanish and Vietnamese-speaking clients receiving mental health services. Interview data include client narratives related to their understanding of mental illness, approach to treatment, family and community stigma, immigration experiences, and understanding of policies related to service provision suitable for their needs.