Clinical Research Directory

CommunityRx-Dementia + Peer Navigation (CRxDpeer)

The CRxDpeer intervention, delivered by a trained peer navigator, in practice called a "peer mentor", includes three evidence-based components: (a) focused education about common social (e.g., food and housing insecurity) and caregiving (e.g., respite and end of life care) needs, (b) activation of personalized community resource information for social and caregiving needs through delivery of a resource list (HealtheRx) at the baseline encounter and coaching on how to communicate with service providers, coordinate services and manage social support (e.g., connect with their peer navigator, reach out to friends or relatives for support, identify support groups, etc.) and (c) ongoing navigation-focused support meant to boost the baseline intervention, including a series of proactive text messages over 12 months. During this time, the subject can respond to and communicate with the peer navigator for ongoing support.

Virtual Reality for Caregiver Assembly, Relief, Empowerment, and Support (VR-CARES)

The VR-CARES project is an innovative, collaborative effort that invites dementia care professionals into the design process of a virtual reality platform seeking to mitigate their work-related burden and social isolation by cultivating a virtual community of support. The co-created, caregiver-specific VR platform will serve as a safe, communal space where caregivers can remotely connect with their peers, share fun experiences together, access support, learn self-care and build resilience within a supportive virtual network to enhance their social and mental health and job satisfaction. Central to VR-CARES in the principle of user-led innovation, ensuring that the technology not only serves but is informed and successfully adopted by the very individuals it intends to benefit, an important standard for empathetic and inclusive technology in healthcare.

Parents Helping Parents for Youth Vaping Cessation

The goal of this randomized controlled study is to test if this new intervention works to help adolescents quit vaping. A key feature of the program is the use of peer support for parents, delivered by trained parent coaches. Participants will complete baseline and follow up surveys. Parents in the intervention arm will receive peer support as part of the program.

Pathways to Perinatal Mental Health Equity

Mental health conditions occurring during pregnancy and up to one year postpartum (the perinatal period) occur in 1 in 5 perinatal individuals. To improve mental health care during the perinatal period, this study will implement and compare a health care model of improving mood and anxiety disorder care in practices with a health care-community partnership model. The study will include 32 perinatal care settings across the United States. Half of them will have the health care model, the other half will have the health care-community partnership model. The study is designed to answer the question, "Should states and healthcare systems put resources into a healthcare system approach or a healthcare-community partnership approach to mental health care?" The results of this study will help states and healthcare systems decide how to develop pathways for increasing access to mental health care for pregnant and postpartum individuals.

The iPeer2Peer Mentorship Program for Young Adults With Heart Disease

Young adults with heart failure, including those who have undergone a heart transplant, experience considerable psychosocial stressors associated with living with a chronic illness, including heightened levels of anxiety and depression, and poor health-related quality of life compared to 'healthy' peers. Psychosocial challenges during young adulthood are especially concerning as this life stage represents a unique transitional period for fostering self-identity, friendships, mastery, and decision-making competencies. As young people with heart failure transition into adult healthcare systems, they take on greater personal responsibility due to their increasing independence and involvement in care decisions, and require more support and resources to live longer, healthier lives. Peer support provided by a person with a similar experience has been found to improve disease self-management and psychosocial health outcomes in pediatric healthcare. An established, online mentorship program, iPeer2Peer (iP2P), will be employed through a pilot feasibility waitlist randomized controlled trial with repeated measures across five sites. Sixty mentees will be recruited and randomized into intervention and control groups. Thirty mentees in the intervention group will be matched 1:1 with 20 trained mentors. These pairings will connect over 12 weeks through video calls and text messaging to provide peer support to improve self-management and psychosocial health outcomes.

Effects of Health Education on Knowledge, Attitude and Screening for Cervical Cancer in Women

Women's knowledge, attitudes and behaviors about cancer are very important in the prevention of cervical cancer. In addition to medical interventions, psychosocial support and education programs are of great importance in the fight against cancer. Peer support helps individuals going through the same disease process to exchange information and emotional support by sharing their experiences with each other. In addition, the information obtained through peer support provides more permanent learning in individuals due to the transfer of information based on similar experiences and the creation of more trust and empathy compared to traditional education methods. Peer-supported education programs for women diagnosed with cervical cancer not only provide theoretical knowledge but also support the applicability of this knowledge in daily life. The trainings address topics such as risk factors of cervical cancer, the importance of HPV vaccination, the necessity of regular screening tests and healthy lifestyle behaviors, including attitudes towards cervical cancer prevention and cancer-related information. It is very important that this information is not limited to individual learning and that it is discussed within the group and supported by experiences through peer support, in order to increase the level of knowledge.

Adaptation and Implementation of Peer Support in Brazil

Mental disorders are among the leading causes of disability and morbidity worldwide, including Brazil, where despite having a comprehensive network of publicly-funded, free, community-based mental health treatment, it is estimated that only 26% of people with psychiatric conditions successfully connect to community-based care. The study team hypothesizes that the successful adaptation and implementation of an evidence-based model of peer support to Brazilian culture, will contribute to enhanced levels of engagement, improved continuity of care, and improvements in quality of life and wellbeing among persons living with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) in Brazil. After this study, it will have established the feasibility, acceptability, safety and tolerability, of adapting a low-cost, culturally-responsive, evidence-based intervention to improve post-acute supports for people with SMI who access community mental health treatment.