# Empowering Chinese American Adolescents and Parents for Mental Health Help-Seeking

> **NIH NIH U54** · CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK · 2024 · $265,093

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The current state of science in Chinese American (CA) adolescent mental health service use is remarkably
inadequate. This proposal aims to culturally adapt and pilot test an online, culturally appropriate intervention to
improve mental health help-seeking among CA adolescents and parents.
The Specific Aims of the proposed research are:
 Aim 1: Culturally adapt evidence-based practices (EBPs) for an online intervention protocol to reduce
MH stigma and improve MH service use in CA adolescents and parents.
 Aim 2: Determine the feasibility of conducting a trial to evaluate the impact of the intervention on initiation
and sustained utilization of MH services in adolescents with newly screened to have affective disorders,
comparing it to a control group receiving only service referrals.
 Aim 3: Examine the experiences and perspectives of both CA parents and adolescents who participated
in online anti-stigma protocol as well intervention facilitators to evaluate its acceptability.
The proposed research is significant and innovative in multiple ways. First, we focus on CA adolescents, an
extremely understudied minority population in health services research. A portfolio review of clinical research
funded by the NIH from 1992 to 2018 revealed that only 0.17% of the total NIH budget was directed to studies
on Asian American — including CA — populations. Second, our focus will be on intervening on risk and protective
mechanisms through a culturally sensitive lens. Therefore, the proposed research is highly relevant to NIH's
focus on understanding modifiable factors to inform interventions. Lastly, this study will be carried out by the PI
and a research team with expertise in mental health services research, intervention development, and treatment
of MH problems among CA adolescents.
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## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11002162
- **Project number:** 1U54MD017979-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK
- **Principal Investigator:** Wenhua Lu
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $265,093
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-23 → 2029-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11002162

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11002162, Empowering Chinese American Adolescents and Parents for Mental Health Help-Seeking (1U54MD017979-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11002162. Licensed CC0.

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