# Building Community Capacity for Disability Prevention for Minority Elders

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2020 · $336,601

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Although minority elders represent the fastest growing segment of an aging US population, they have less
access to mental health care and prevention of disability, lagging well behind non-Latino whites, and suffering
significant disparities. Blacks and Latinos have the greatest risk for disability, with striking disparities in healthy
aging. This includes elderly immigrants who exhibit elevated depressive and anxiety symptoms, and higher
rates of disability than the native-born population; yet, they often go undiagnosed or underdiagnosed. This is a
missed opportunity given that mood disorder treatment has been shown to reduce disability days and that
several risk factors for disability, such as functional mobility are modifiable. Research suggests that a
contributing factor may be an insufficient supply of professional providers and the inability of evidence based
treatments to reach and be acceptable to minority elders. An IOM committee recently reported that the severe
workforce shortages in providing mental health care to elder adults required novel approaches to resolve. To
address these disparities and prevent disability among minority elders, the proposed R01 examines how to
successfully build collaborative research for the provision of evidence-based mental health and disability
prevention treatments in community-based settings. Promising results in a few international studies show
improved access and quality of mental health outcomes and reduced disability when interventions are
delivered by Community Health Workers. Yet limited and inconsistent evidence of the efficacy of CHW-led
interventions in the US context remains. While the number of community-based health interventions has grown
exponentially to address these service disparities, there is a lack of systematic assessment of whether they
lead to increased community capacity and systems change, and whether they improve the quality of care and
potentially decrease disability. Our proposed study endeavors to address this limitation. As such, the proposed
R01 will be one of few efforts that simultaneously study the three components necessary for a successful
intervention: efficacy, since the intervention must work, acceptability among clients, and feasibility and
sustainability within the organization. It seeks to understand the role of the partnerships in increasing
community capacity for a combined mental health and disability prevention intervention, and evaluating the
acceptability, efficacy, feasibility and sustainability of the intervention delivered by CHWs and exercise trainers
to Latino, African American and Asian elders with moderate to severe mood symptoms and at risk of disability.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10145941
- **Project number:** 3R01AG046149-07A1S1
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** MARGARITA ALEGRIA
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $336,601
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2014-08-15 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10145941

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10145941, Building Community Capacity for Disability Prevention for Minority Elders (3R01AG046149-07A1S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10145941. Licensed CC0.

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