Academic and clinical partnership research has demonstrated that a collaborative approach can resolve issues such as mistrust between community providers and mental health researchers. In the best situations, collaborations that involve diverse people, organizations, and resources contribute to the dynamics of creating “partnership synergism” ( 1). Community-partnered participatory research requires the engagement of diverse populations in complex community environments. However, among academic psychiatric institutions, a participatory approach to research is still in the early developmental stage. For decades, public health practice has utilized community partnerships by activating public participation and empowering people to address health concerns. Thus a new approach to mental health research was needed.Ī promising research paradigm that helps build partnerships between academic researchers and communities is called participatory research. Mistrust in the mental health system resulting from cultural insensitivity and the lack of program sustainability has alienated seniors, particularly African Americans, inhibiting their participation in research conducted by WPIC. This cohort represents a generation who generally do not seek assistance for mental health issues. counties, Allegheny County, where WPIC is located, has one of the highest densities of elders. The Advanced Center for Intervention and Services Research/Late-life Mood Disorders (ACISR/LLMD) of the Department of Psychiatry of the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC) focuses on the study and treatment of mood disorders among older adults.
The nation’s growing population of elders from racial and ethnic minority groups is an important concern because a significant percentage of older African Americans with mental disorders do not seek professional help. Specifically, disparities in rates of depression and in depression care across racial and ethnic, age, and income groups are a major public health problem. The prevalence of certain general medical and psychiatric conditions remains disproportionately higher among low-income minority populations in the United States.