Publications by authors named "Aguilar-Gaxiola S"

Article Synopsis
  • The paper discusses the translation and adaptation of the Engage for Equity's Community Engagement Survey (E CES) into Spanish, resulting in a shorter version called FUERTES, both aimed at evaluating Community-Engaged Research (CEnR) partnerships.
  • Community and academic partners from various locations ensured the translated tools maintained content validity and strong psychometric properties, validating the effectiveness of the measures.
  • The study found that the new tools bolster research partnerships in Latino/a/x communities and provide practical metrics for evaluating research practices and outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A large-scale, cross-national study examined the impact of removing the "excessiveness" requirement for diagnosing generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) among individuals living in challenging circumstances.
  • Data from over 133,000 adults across various income countries revealed that eliminating this criterion raises the global prevalence of GAD from 2.6% to 4.0%, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
  • Non-excessive worriers, while less severe, exhibit similar socio-demographic traits and impairment levels as excessive worriers, indicating they are significant cases deserving diagnosis and treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The study evaluated a tailored research training course for community health workers and promotoras (CHW/Ps) to improve their skills and knowledge in research roles, with both virtual and in-person options available.
  • - A total of 394 CHW/Ps participated, with over 95% reporting improved abilities and high relevance of the course to their work, despite small differences in training experiences across locations.
  • - The training was generally well-received, highlighting the importance of facilitators with community experience, and suggests a scalable model for enhancing the CHW/P workforce's research capabilities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Mental health service providers are increasingly interested in patient perspectives. We examined rates and predictors of patient-reported satisfaction and perceived helpfulness in a cross-national general population survey of adults with 12-month DSM-IV disorders who saw a provider for help with their mental health.

Methods: Data were obtained from epidemiological surveys in the World Mental Health Survey Initiative.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Community health workers and promotoras (CHW/Ps) have a fundamental role in facilitating research with communities. However, no national standard training exists as part of the CHW/P job role. We developed and evaluated a culturally- and linguistically tailored online research best practices course for CHW/Ps to meet this gap.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Many patients discontinue antidepressant medication (ADM) without a doctor's recommendation, with 15.7% ceasing use independently compared to 10.9% who followed their prescriber's advice.
  • The primary reason for stopping was feeling better (46.6%), particularly noted by those who discontinued within the first two weeks of treatment, while concerns like perceived ineffectiveness and costs were less common.
  • Factors influencing discontinuation include country income levels, employment status, and the prescribing professional, indicating that patient-reported reasons are complex and vary widely among individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Importance: Understanding the association of civil violence with mental disorders is important for developing effective postconflict recovery policies.

Objective: To estimate the association between exposure to civil violence and the subsequent onset and persistence of common mental disorders (in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition [DSM-IV]) in representative surveys of civilians from countries that have experienced civil violence since World War II.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This study used data from cross-sectional World Health Organization World Mental Health (WMH) surveys administered to households between February 5, 2001, and January 5, 2022, in 7 countries that experienced periods of civil violence after World War II (Argentina, Colombia, Lebanon, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Peru, and South Africa).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: This study describes attitudes towards diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) among members of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program. It also explores associations between program members' roles and their perceived importance of and commitment to improving DEI and assesses the link between perceived importance of and commitment to improving DEI. Lastly, it ascertains barriers and priorities concerning health equity research, workforce development, CTSA consortium leadership, and clinical trials participation among respondents.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To describe the early activities and lessons of the Share, Trust, Organize, Partner -19 California Alliance (STOP COVID-19 CA), the California awardee of the NIH-funded multi-state Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) against COVID-19. The Alliance was established to ensure equity in Coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) research, clinical practice, and public health for communities most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Study Setting: The STOP COVID-19 CA Alliance network of 11 universities and affiliated partner community-based organizations (CBOs) across California.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aims: Likelihood of alcohol dependence (AD) is increased among people who transition to greater levels of alcohol involvement at a younger age. Indicated interventions delivered early may be effective in reducing risk, but could be costly. One way to increase cost-effectiveness would be to develop a prediction model that targeted interventions to the subset of youth with early alcohol use who are at highest risk of subsequent AD.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Community engagement (CE) is critical for advancing health equity and a key approach for promoting inclusive clinical and translational science. However, it requires a workforce trained to effectively design, implement, and evaluate health promotion and improvement strategies through meaningful collaboration with community members. This paper presents an approach for designing CE curricula for research, education, clinical care, and public health learners.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals, and LB women specifically, have an increased risk for psychiatric morbidity, theorized to result from stigma-based discrimination. To date, no study has investigated the mental health disparities between LGB and heterosexual AQ1individuals in a large cross-national population-based comparison. The current study addresses this gap by examining differences between LGB and heterosexual participants in 13 cross-national surveys, and by exploring whether these disparities were associated with country-level LGBT acceptance.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Patient-reported helpfulness of treatment is a key measure of quality in patient-centered mental health care, focusing on experiences with various common disorders.
  • A study of over 10,000 respondents from 30 global surveys found that while only 26.1% found the first treatment helpful, the likelihood of finding helpful treatment increased significantly with each additional professional seen.
  • Despite higher treatment-seeking behavior in high-income countries, the perceived helpfulness of treatments was similar across both high-income and low- to middle-income countries, highlighting the need to encourage persistence in seeking help for mental health issues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Mental health treatment is scarce and little resources are invested in reducing the wide treatment gap that exists in the Americas. The regional barriers are unknown. We describe the barriers for not seeking treatment among those with mental and substance use disorders from six (four low- and middle-income and two high-income) countries from the Americas.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A state-academic-community partnership formed in response to the mental health needs fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the disproportionate effects on marginalized communities. Taking a community-partnered approach and using a health equity lens, the partnership developed a website to guide users through digital mental health resources, prioritizing accessibility, engagement, and community needs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To estimate structural and attitudinal reasons for premature discontinuation of mental health treatment, socio-demographic and clinical correlates of treatment dropout due to these reasons, and to test country differences from the overall effect across the region of the Americas.

Methods: World Health Organization-World Mental Health (WMH) surveys were carried out in six countries in the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and USA. Among the 1991 participants who met diagnostic criteria (measured with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WMHCIDI)) for a mental disorder and were in treatment in the prior 12-months, the 236 (12.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Treatment guidelines for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are based on a relatively small number of randomized controlled trials and do not consider patient-centered perceptions of treatment helpfulness. We investigated the prevalence and predictors of patient-reported treatment helpfulness for DSM-5 GAD and its two main treatment pathways: encounter-level treatment helpfulness and persistence in help-seeking after prior unhelpful treatment.

Methods: Data came from community epidemiologic surveys in 23 countries in the WHO World Mental Health surveys.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Research participation by members of racial or ethnic minority groups continues to be less than optimum resulting in difficulties to generalization of research findings. Community-engaged research that relies on a community health worker (CHW) model has been found effective in building trust in the community, thereby motivating people to participate in health research. The Sentinel Network study aimed at testing the feasibility of utilizing the CHW model to link community members to appropriate health research studies at each of the research sites.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Shortfalls in treatment quantity and quality are well-established, but the specific gaps in pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy are poorly understood. This paper analyzes the gap in treatment coverage for MDD and identifies critical bottlenecks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF