# Building Community Capacity for Disability Prevention for Minority Elders Diversity Supplement

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2021 · $111,086

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 The long-term goal of this Diversity Supplement Award is to prepare Dr. Mayra Sánchez González for an
independent research career that aims to promote adaptive recovery for older adults following illness or injury,
with the ultimate goal of optimizing quality of life. Although minority older adults represent the fastest growing
segment of an aging US population, they have less access to mental health care and prevention of disability.
Mental health illnesses, such as anxiety and depression, tend to follow a chronic episodic course that results in
significant functional disability and negatively affect quality of life. Estimates suggest that up to one-third of
individuals will experience a relapse and/or recurrence of mood disorder episodes following treatment. As
minority older adults are at greater risk for severity, persistence, and recurrence of mental illness, studying the
effectiveness of maintenance interventions to maintain psychological gains is instrumental to reduce disability
and improve quality of life. Understanding clinically prognostic risk factors and sociocultural factors for diverse
racial and ethnic populations can help to target maintenance-based interventions effectively, therefore
maximizing cost-effectiveness and optimizing community-based intervention implementation. The specific
research aims include (Aim 1) identify sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with accepting the E-
PMSB group-based maintenance sessions among intervention participants; (Aim 2) examine whether
intervention participants who receive the maintenance sessions are less likely to experience a relapse and/or
recurrence of mental health symptoms; and (Aim 3) conditional on accepting and receiving the maintenance
sessions, identify who benefits from the maintenance intervention using qualitative methods.
 The proposed research and career development activities will allow Dr. Sánchez González to maintain her
current faculty position at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), while engaging in the project remotely at
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Sánchez González has formed a strong team of content experts
in health disparities, disability, and psychological and behavioral interventions. Immersed in JHU and MGH’s
rich training environments, Dr. Sánchez González will achieve the following career goals through dedicated
mentorship, didactic experiences, and professional development opportunities: (1) develop methodological
expertise in advanced quantitative methods for the analysis of longitudinal data and health disparities,
including multilevel modeling; (2) obtain training in qualitative methods to aid in identifying who benefits from
clinical maintenance interventions; (3) obtain training in the assessment of implementation and dissemination
science, including the successful implementation of public health interventions; (4) build her publication profile
as an early career clinician scientist; and (5) develop and submit a s...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10426894
- **Project number:** 3R01AG046149-08S1
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** MARGARITA ALEGRIA
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $111,086
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2014-08-15 → 2025-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10426894

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10426894, Building Community Capacity for Disability Prevention for Minority Elders Diversity Supplement (3R01AG046149-08S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10426894. Licensed CC0.

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