# Designing adaptive implementation strategies for mental health care in persons living with HIV in South Africa (DASH-SA)

> **NIH NIH K01** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $180,946

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Depression and other mental health conditions are disproportionately common in people with HIV and continue
to compromise quality of life and impede achievement of optimal HIV care outcomes. Problem-solving therapy
is a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy that has been shown to be efficacious at improving a range of mental
health outcomes when used across diverse settings, including in Africa. Where, how and when problem-
solving therapy is best implemented remains an open and critical question to advancing the scale-up of this
evidence-based treatment— particularly in settings where resources are limited or there is high variation in
patient, provider, or community wants, needs, and resources for mental health care delivery. This proposal
aims to address these issues by leveraging stakeholder-driven methods to develop a stepped, or adaptive,
problem-solving therapy implementation approach for people with HIV in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South
Africa. Specifically, I aim to: 1) determine stakeholder preferences regarding the distinct features of problem-
solving therapy implementation for PWH; 2) develop a contextually feasible, stepped problem-solving therapy
implementation approach using the Implementation Mapping protocol; and 3) evaluate the feasibility of using a
stepped problem-solving therapy implementation approach for PWH in a low-resource setting in South Africa.
My overarching goal is to become an independently funded researcher who leads multi-disciplinary teams, and
uses diverse, innovative methods (e.g., adaptive implementation strategies) to improve the mental and
physical health of people with HIV in low-resource settings. This K01 award will build upon my strong
foundation in advanced epidemiologic methods and applied experience conducting global mental health
disparities and intervention research to address identified gaps in my training and expertise. In collaboration
with my world-class mentorship team, I have designed an intensive 5-year training plan that incorporates
didactic and other capacity-building activities (e.g., seminars, one-on-one mentoring meetings) with applied
experience to achieve the following training goals: 1) Establish expertise developing interview and focus group
discussion guides and conducting qualitative thematic analyses; 2) Gain a robust theoretical understanding of
implementation strategies and community-driven program planning tools for the scale-up of mental health
interventions; and 3) Develop expertise in the use and evaluation of multi-stage implementation strategies. The
proposed research and training will ensure my successful transition to independence in the Division of
Infectious Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine and provide the skills and preliminary data
necessary to develop an R01 to further evaluate implementation and efficacy outcomes of adaptive problem-
solving therapy implementation strategies for people with HIV in South Africa. Moreover, this work will...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10924786
- **Project number:** 1K01MH136924-01
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Lindsey Filiatreau
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $180,946
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-01 → 2029-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10924786

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10924786, Designing adaptive implementation strategies for mental health care in persons living with HIV in South Africa (DASH-SA) (1K01MH136924-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10924786. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*