Clinical Research Directory

Moon and Sun Brothers: A Community Prevention Intervention (Hermanos de Luna y Sol)

The goal of this quasi-experimental, community intervention is to reduce HIV sexual risk among Latino immigrant bisexual men or men who have sex with men. The main questions the study aims to answer are: Does the intervention improve sexual risk behaviors? Does the intervention increase self-esteem and social support? Are self-esteem and social support mediators in the link between the intervention and sexual risk? Researchers will compare information from the intervention versus control participants to answer the above questions. Participants in the intervention arm will take part in: * One day-long (8-hour) group retreat. * Weekly discussion groups. * Community events and civic engagement activities. * Prevention counseling. Participants in the control arm will not be part of any activity.

Meet Me on the Pitch: Developing and Testing a Community-Based Sports and Behavioral Health Intervention for Youth

This study evaluates Meet Me on the Pitch (MMotP), a community-based intervention that integrates sports, schools, and behavioral health with the goal of improving the behavioral health, well-being and academic performance of youth. MMotP is a novel approach that builds on evidence-based practices by using sports as a means to foster social-emotional development and address barriers to academic, health, and social services. The study assesses feasibility, acceptability, and short-term outcomes through a randomized controlled trial comparing MMotP to standard sports programming. The intervention will be implemented by the non-profit organization Soccer Without Borders and evaluated by the University of California, San Francisco.

Mental Health Literacy and Help-Seeking Behavior Among Adolescents

This study examines mental health awareness and help-seeking behaviors among adolescents aged 13-18 years in Assiut City, Egypt. Mental health problems are common among young people, but many adolescents do not seek professional help when they need it. This is often due to low mental health literacy (not understanding mental health problems or knowing where to get help), stigma (negative attitudes toward mental illness), and fears about confidentiality or being judged. The study has two parts: Part 1 - Assessment Phase: Researchers will survey approximately 270 students from preparatory and secondary schools in Assiut to understand their current levels of mental health literacy, stigma, and willingness to seek help for mental health problems. Students will complete validated questionnaires that measure their knowledge about mental health, their attitudes toward peers with mental health problems, and their intentions to seek help from various sources. Part 2 - Intervention Phase: In a randomized controlled trial involving 150 students (75 in an intervention group and 75 in a control group), researchers will test whether a brief educational program can improve mental health literacy, reduce stigma, and increase help-seeking intentions. The intervention consists of three weekly classroom sessions covering: (1) mental health literacy - basic concepts, common problems in adolescents like stress and anxiety, recognizing symptoms; (2) stigma reduction - understanding how negative labels hurt people, recognizing public and self-stigma, using respectful language; and (3) help-seeking behavior - knowing when to seek help, understanding formal and informal help sources, overcoming barriers, and learning about local resources in Assiut. Students in both groups will complete questionnaires before the intervention and one month after completion. The control group will not receive the educational sessions during the study period. Researchers will compare changes in mental health knowledge, stigma levels, and help-seeking attitudes between the two groups to determine whether the program is effective. The study aims to address a critical gap in mental health services for adolescents in Upper Egypt by improving young people's understanding of mental health and encouraging them to seek appropriate help when needed.

Recognizing Emotional Neglect and Help-Seeking Intention Among Adolescents in Brussels

The goal of this study is to find out how well adolescents in Dutch-speaking secondary schools in Brussels can recognize emotional neglect, and how this relates to their intention to seek help. The main research questions are: 1. How well do adolescents recognize situations of emotional neglect, and do boys and girls differ in their recognition? 2. Does recognition of emotional neglect predict adolescents' intention to seek help? This study is conducted through an online survey. Participants will read one of four short written stories about an adolescent experiencing emotional neglect. The stories vary by gender (boy or girl) and by the clarity of the neglect (clear or ambiguous). After reading, participants answer questions about the story, including their thoughts and how they might respond in a similar situation. They also answer questions about their own experiences and attitudes toward help-seeking.

Delivering Church-based Interventions to Reduce Stigma and Mental Health Treatment Disparities Among Latinos

This study is a cluster randomized controlled trial of a Latino church-based intervention in Los Angeles and Riverside Counties. This study aims to leverage the collective resources of Latino religious congregations and the National Alliance on Mental Illness to test the effectiveness of a multi-component intervention directed at reducing stigma, increasing mental health literacy, and improving access to mental health services.

Intervention to Enhance Coping and Help-seeking Among Youth in Foster Care

This study will deploy a scalable secondary prevention program that leverages existing foster youth transition services to improve mental health functioning and service use before and after exiting foster care. Our short-term objective is to remotely test a group intervention called Stronger Youth Networks and Coping (SYNC) that targets cognitive schemas influencing stress responses, including mental health help-seeking and service engagement, among foster youth with behavioral health risk. SYNC aims to increase youth capacity to appraise stress and regulate emotional responses, to flexibly select adaptive coping strategies, and to promote informal and formal help-seeking as an effective coping strategy. The proposed aims will establish whether the 10-module program engages the targeted proximal mechanisms with a signal of efficacy on clinically-relevant outcomes, and whether a fully-powered randomized control trial (RCT) of SYNC is feasible in the intended service context. Our first aim is to refine our SYNC curriculum and training materials, prior to testing SYNC in a remote single-arm trial with two cohorts of 8-10 Oregon foster youth aged 16-20 (N=26). Our second aim is to conduct a remote two-arm individually-randomized group treatment trial with Oregon foster youth aged 16-20 with indicated behavioral health risk (N=80) to examine: (a) intervention group change on proximal mechanisms of coping self-efficacy and help-seeking attitudes, compared to services-as-usual at post-intervention and 6-month follow-up: and (b) association between the mechanisms and targeted outcomes, including emotional regulation, coping behaviors, mental health service use, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Our third aim is to refine and standardize the intervention and research protocol for an effectiveness trial, including confirming transferability with national stakeholders.

LázBarát™ (FeverFriend™) Projekt: Attitude Toward Fever and Its Change in the Healthcare System

The positive effects of fever are supported by a number of physiological, pathophysiological and clinical evidence. However, the negative attitude toward fever is widespread and have become persistent. According to sociological research, this is based on two main factors: comfort and fear. To change this negative attitude, awareness needs to be raised and the attitude toward fever among health care workers and the lay public needs to be reframed positively. Furthermore, the role of media users is essential, especially among the young generation. The current Hungarian recommendation/protocol is valid since 2011 (Professional protocol of the Ministry of National Resources: Caring for a child with fever, the recommendation of the College of Pediatric and Pediatric However, the practical implementation among health professionals and the laity public is low. Based on this protocol and current international guidelines (NICE) clinicians developed a protocol and register, where parents and caregivers can document the symptoms and runoff of fever as well as receive feedback on severity and appropriate management. The project aims to increase the evidence-based (EBM) guideline adherence, to reduce the unnecessary use of antipyretics and antibiotics, as well as the load on the current healthcare system. The documentation of the collected data allows the investigators to map and analyze (stats) socio-demographic behavior both on individual and societal level.

Improving Help-seeking for Depression Care in Nepal

Depression is a serious public health concern worldwide due to its high prevalence rate and significant emotional and financial burden on individuals, their families, and society. There is a substantial gap between the number of people in need of treatment for depression and those who actually receive it. The recent World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health Survey revealed that 86.3% of people with anxiety, mood, or substance disorders in lower-middle-income countries did not receive any treatment in the past 12 months. This study aims to evaluate a community-based intervention to address demand-side barriers by improving mental health literacy, dispelling myths and misconceptions about depression, changing negative attitudes towards depression care, and promoting help-seeking behavior.

Mental Health Content and Mental Health Outcomes

The study will aim to explore the relationship between mental health content on social media and health behavior, addressing a gap in empirical research. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior, a survey with over 600 participants will examine associations between exposure to mental health content and behaviors like help-seeking and self-diagnosis.

Antenatal Depression Help-seeking Trial in Eswatini

The goal of this trial to test if a web-based psychoeducation will work in improving depression help-seeking intention and behavior among antenatal women with probable depression in Eswatini. The main question it aims to answer is: • Does the web-based psychoeducation improve depression help-seeking intention and help-seeking behavior in antenatal women with probable depressive symptoms? Researchers will compare this web-based psychoeducation to a waitlist control, to see if the program works in improving depression help-seeking intention and behavior during pregnancy. * The psychoeducation program will have a total of 4 sessions, which will be given to participants over a two-week period. two sessions will be delivered each week. * Participants will be asked questions before the intervention starts, immediately the intervention ends as well as after a month of completing the intervention.