Culturally-Based Family Intervention for Mexican-Americans (CFIMA)

Project Summary:
This project aims to further develop and test a new Culturally-based Family Intervention for Mexican Americans.

Project Description:
Family involvement in service interventions for persons with schizophrenia has consistently shown strong positive outcomes for patients and their families. Despite that Latino cultures are known to be more family-centered in comparison to Western-based cultures, only one controlled family-based schizophrenia model (empirically validated for non-minorities) has been studied with Mexican-Americans, and the results were mixed. There is a great need for more family work in this area because studies have consistently found that most Latino patients are more likely to live with family compared to non-minorities. Family interventions need to be developed that are socioculturally synchronous with the caregiving ideology of Latino culture and that are culturally congruent with the needs, preferences, and cultural learning styles of this largely under-served, under-researched growing population.
This work will provide a model for how to integrate cultural factors into other intervention services and enhance these in real-world settings for culturally diverse groups.

Project Investigator(s):
Concepcion Barrio

Research Period: 12/15/06 - 11/30/09

Funding Source: National Institute of Mental Health

Total Award Amount: $ 186,999