# Mindfulness-intervention to Address PTSD in Trauma-exposed, Homeless Women

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · 2022 · $48,326

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a major public health concern that disproportionately effects minorities
and those with low-socioeconomic status, such as homeless women, creating a critical health disparity. PTSD
has been linked with dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) functioning and increased inflammation,
which can lead to long-term physical-health problems and PTSD-symptom maintenance, exacerbating
disparities. Mindfulness-based interventions, including Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR), have
shown promise as a complementary tool for addressing PTSD in veterans and with low-income, minority
populations, but homeless women have not been examined adequately. MBSR may improve PTSD
symptomatology and help modulate the dysregulated stress response common in individuals with PTSD,
improving physical and mental health concurrently. This project proposes a mixed-methods, open-label, parallel,
randomized-clinical trial of a modified-MBSR intervention to reduce PTSD symptoms in homeless women and
to explore physiological correlates of treatment-response. Inclusion criteria will be currently homeless women,
age 18-64, with clinically-significant PTSD as defined by standard guidelines. Phase I will be a qualitative study
to refine MBSR for cultural-appropriateness in a high-minority community and to address the specific needs of
homeless women. In Phase II, participants will be randomly assigned to the MBSR-based intervention or a health
promotion attention-control group. At baseline, women will complete psychosocial assessments (e.g.,
depression, substance use, trauma history) and participate in a brief stress task, providing salivary samples
before and after the task (which will be assayed for cortisol and C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation).
Women will then participate in the 9-week MBSR-based program or health-promotion control group. Follow-up
assessments that include psychosocial and biological data will occur immediately after final intervention session
and again 6-months later. Clinically-meaningful improvements in PTSD (primary outcome) and secondary
outcomes (e.g., depression, substance use, inflammation, cortisol reactivity) will then be examined. The
candidate’s training plan capitalizes on the expertise of a diverse mentoring team, integrating advanced training
in mixed-methods research, community-based clinical trials, mindfulness-based interventions, and salivary
biosciences. The plan includes didactic courses and on-one-one mentoring at the University of California, Irvine
(mixed-methods, qualitative design, clinical trials, and salivary bioscience) and Loma Linda University (MBIs),
both in Southern California. The training plan also includes in-depth workshops in each substantive area and in
training in the responsible conduct of research. The candidate will complete the K01 with expertise in mixed-
methods, biopsychosocial approaches to address PTSD in populations with high health-dispari...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10347176
- **Project number:** 5K01MD013910-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Dana Rose Garfin
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $48,326
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-05-06 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10347176

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10347176, Mindfulness-intervention to Address PTSD in Trauma-exposed, Homeless Women (5K01MD013910-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10347176. Licensed CC0.

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