Abstract
Background
Many psychiatric residents have traditionally received little- or- no training in cross cultural approaches to psychiatric training and research.
Methods
The Dartmouth-Howard Collaboration summer school training program had a 5-year grant to explore approaches to enhancing understanding of cultural factors in mental health treatment and research.
Results
Participants’ questionnaire rating responses indicated that their experience in the Summer School program enhanced their understanding and experience in dealing with minority, largely African American patients and the diverse factors that affect their treatment.
Conclusion
The Dartmouth—Howard Collaboration provides a model for a feasible training program that imparts knowledge regarding culture and mental health, and the conduct of mental health research, with particular attention to African American mental health. The program is unique in that it offers an intense, 1-week course delivered to several types of mental health professionals and trainees in research and practice.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Weissman JS, Betancourt J, Campbell EG, et al: Resident physicians’ preparedness to provide cross-cultural care. JAMA 2005; 294:1058–1067
Institute of Medicine: Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health. Washington, DC, National Academy Press, 2002
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Mental health: culture, race, and ethnicity, a supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD, 2001
Hahm J: National Research Council (U.S.) and IOM (U.S.) Committee on Opportunities to Address Clinical Research Workforce Diversity Needs for 2010. Washington, DC, National Academies Press, U.S., 2006
Sullivan LW, Suez-Mittman I: The state of diversity in the health professions a century after Flexner. Acad. Med 2010; 85:246–253
Carpenter-Song E, Whitley R, Lawson W, et al: Reducing disparities in mental health care: suggestions from The Dartmouth-Howard Collaboration. Community Ment Health J 2011; 47:1–13
Kirmayer LJ, Rousseau C, Corin E, et al: Training researchers in cultural psychiatry: The McGill-CIHR Strategic Training Program. Acad Psychiatry 2008; 32:320–326
Boehnlein JK, Leung PK, Kinzie JD: Cross-cultural psychiatric residency training: the Oregon experience. Acad Psychiatry 2008; 32:299–305
Gaines AD: From DSM-I to III-R: voices of self, mastery, and the other: a cultural constructivist reading of U.S. psychiatric classification. Soc Sci Med 1992; 35:3–24
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hipolito, M.M., Malik, M., Carpenter-Song, E. et al. Capacity-Building for African American Mental Health Training and Research: Lessons From the Howard-Dartmouth Collaborative Summer School. Acad Psychiatry 36, 47–50 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ap.10100149
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ap.10100149