# Attending to the “whole” child in mental health care: Utilizing a partnership approach to address social risk factors alongside an evidence-based psychotherapy

> **NIH NIH F31** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2024 · $45,446

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Social risk factors, or adverse conditions in which people are born, grow, live, and age1, contribute to greater
mental health problems2,3 and lower treatment engagement worldwide.4–7 The prevalence and impact of social
risk factors (SRFs) are particularly pronounced in low-to-middle income countries, where too few individuals—
and particularly children—with mental health needs receive care. To our knowledge, in global mental health
research, we have not systematically developed and evaluated strategies to address SRFs alongside mental
health treatments. This study builds on an NIMH-funded trial in Kenya, “Building and Sustaining Interventions
for Children (BASIC): Task-Shifting Mental Health Care in Low-Resource Settings” (R01MH112633). The
study goal is to develop strategies to address and mitigate SRFs alongside evidence-based psychotherapies
(EBPs) using decolonizing methodologies.8 Lay counselors and guardians involved in the BASIC study report
that children enrolled in the culturally-adapted EBP (Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)9
experienced high rates of SRFs (food insecurity, lack of support system), with strong calls for improving
outcomes by addressing SRFs in therapy.10–12 Thus, this project responds directly to community needs and
addresses a documented challenge to the effective implementation of EBPs given the negative effect of SRFs
on mental health trajectory and treatment engagement. The study aims to: 1) Examine the experience of
SRFs and the barriers and facilitators to addressing SRFs in therapy through qualitative interviews with
PT counselors and guardians who received therapy in BASIC. 2) Collaboratively design impactful and
practical strategies to address SRFs in therapy during a 2-day workshop with supervisors and counselors.
3) Investigate whether a 2-day training in the developed strategies
and post-training supervision
impact
counselor-level outcomes (e.g., perceived self-efficacy/self-control, effectiveness, feasibility, and
acceptability of the SRF strategies). As many scholars have highlighted problematic influences of coloniality in
current and past global research,13,14 the study team will actively work against colonial attitudes by privileging
the voice of community stakeholders during all research activities and decision-making throughout the study.
Strategies developed through this project have the potential to improve engagement in and effectiveness of the
EBP in BASIC and ideally will be generalizable to other EBPs globally. Our ultimate goal is to improve
outcomes for individuals with mental health needs in low-to-middle income countries.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10891458
- **Project number:** 5F31MH130041-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Clara Johnson
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $45,446
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-08-16 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10891458

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10891458, Attending to the “whole” child in mental health care: Utilizing a partnership approach to address social risk factors alongside an evidence-based psychotherapy (5F31MH130041-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10891458. Licensed CC0.

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