Creating a Culture of Health for Perinatal Women with Mental Illness: A Community-Engaged Policy and Research Initiative.

Background: Maternal mental health disorders (MMHDs) affect 35% to 40% of low-income, minority, perinatal women and negatively impact these women, their newborns, families, and communities. However, MMHDs are overlooked or stigmatized by medical systems, families, and women themselves.

Objectives: We sought to answer the following research questions: 1) What lessons can we learn about maternal mental health in our local neighborhoods by creating and engaging with a community advisory board (CAB)? 2) What policy recommendations can we formulate with the CAB to address MMHDs among a low-income Latino population?

Methods: We conducted a qualitative research study guided by a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach.

Provider and consumer perspectives of community mental health services: Implications for consumer-driven care.

Public mental health services in the community are broad and continue to expand to address the multiple issues faced by those with serious mental illnesses. However, few studies examine and contrast how helpful consumers and providers find the spectrum of services. The present study examines the services at community mental health service clinics (CMHCs) from the perspectives of providers and consumers.

Integrating behavioral healthcare for individuals with serious mental illness: A randomized controlled trial of a peer health navigator intervention.

Objective: Individuals with serious mental illness also have high rates of comorbid physical health issues. To address those issues, this population needs interventions that improve self-management of health and healthcare.

Methods: In order to improve the health and healthcare of individuals with serious mental illnesses, 151 consumers with serious mental illness were randomized to receive either usual mental healthcare plus the Bridge intervention (n=76) or usual mental healthcare while on a 6month waitlist (n=75).

The Community Mentorship Program: Providing Community-Engagement Opportunities for Early-Stage Clinical and Translational Scientists to Facilitate Research Translation.

Problem: A goal of the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC-CTSI) at the University of Southern California and Children's Hospital Los Angeles is to train early-stage clinical and translational scientists (CTSs) to conduct research that improves the health of diverse communities. This goal aligns well with the Institute of Medicine's recommendations emphasizing community engagement in biomedical research that facilitates research translation. The Community Mentorship Program (CMP), created to complement community-engaged research didactics, matches CTSs with community mentors who help them identify and complete community-engaged experiences that inform their research.

The Recovery-Oriented Care Collaborative: A Practice-Based Research Network to Improve Care for People With Serious Mental Illnesses.

Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) create continuous collaborations among academic researchers and practitioners. Most PBRNs have operated in primary care, and less than 5% of federally registered PBRNs include mental health practitioners. In 2012 the first PBRN in the nation focused on individuals with serious mental illnesses-the Recovery-Oriented Care Collaborative-was established in Los Angeles.

Mindful movement program for older breast cancer survivors: a pilot study.

Background: Older breast cancer survivors (BCSs) are at risk for late and long-term treatment effects on quality of life (QOL), including lower physical functioning and fear of recurrence. Two promising approaches to address this include dance/movement therapy and mindfulness.

Objective: The purpose of this 2-group randomized controlled pilot feasibility study was to test short-term effects of a 12-week Mindful Movement Program (MMP) intervention combining mindfulness with self-directed movement on QOL and mindfulness in female BCSs 50 years or older and at 12 months or more following treatment.

Senior peer counseling by telephone for psychosocial support after breast cancer surgery: effects at six months.

Purpose/objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of senior peer counseling by telephone for supplemental psychosocial support of older women after breast cancer surgery.

Design: Experimental, randomized block, longitudinal.

Setting: A community-based senior service agency and a community hospital-based breast surgical oncology practice in an urban area of California.

Participant perceptions of a mindful movement program for older women with breast cancer: focus group results.

Background: Little attention has been directed to the longer-term survivorship phase for older breast cancer survivors (BCSs) who often continue to struggle with late and long-term adverse effects of treatment including lower physical functioning, fear of recurrence, stress and anxiety, neuropathies, and pain. Creative and accessible strategies are needed that offer support to this population of cancer survivors.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine participant perceptions of the effects of a Mindful Movement Program intervention on quality of life and mindfulness through focus groups.

Training senior peer counselors to provide telephone support for newly diagnosed breast cancer survivors.

Volunteers require carefully designed and evaluable training before providing support to newly diagnosed older breast cancer survivors (BCS) after surgery. A training module and 20-h course incorporating discussion, role plays, dyads, and written material were created to supplement core training of senior peer counselors, who provided a telephone support intervention in a randomized controlled trial. Twelve volunteers began the training, ten completed the course, and six of the ten subsequently provided telephone support to 107 BCS.

Outreach to multiethnic, multicultural, and multilingual women for breast cancer and cervical cancer education and screening: a model using professional and volunteer staffing.

Reaching low-income women from diverse ethnic and cultural communities for the purpose of breast and cervical cancer education and screening is a challenge. This article describes an approach used by Center for Healthy Aging in Santa Monica, California, to implement three projects aimed at Hispanic and African American women to encourage early intervention behaviors. Hispanic and African American volunteers and professional staff work together to establish trusting relationships, join forces with community leaders and develop collaborative approaches to achieve the goal of screening about 1,000 underserved women annually and providing education for an additional 5,000 women.