ACCESS Lab Projects
Current Projects
Revamping Evidence-based Supports to Promote Effective Culturally-responsive Treatment (RESPECT)
International OCD Foundation, PI: Sanchez, September 2021-September 2023
The goal of this study is to improve access to and effectiveness of treatment for youth from minoritized backgrounds. There is strong evidence that current evidence-based interventions need systematic adaptation to improve the cultural responsiveness and fit for historically underserved youth and families, but there is little guidance on what and how to systematically adapt, especially within treatment for anxiety and OCD. By employing a practice-based mixed methods design, we are collaboratively developing a clinician toolkit. It is being developed through a systematic, user-centered process that centers stakeholders’ voices and emphasizes collaborative decision making for use with youth with OCD and related disorders. There are three main aims of the study: Aim 1: Understand current practices in community mental health through retrospective chart review and qualitative interviews with clinicians, clients and caregivers, Aim 2: collaboratively develop the toolkit with inputs from aim 1 and current literature, and Aim 3: evaluate initial acceptability and feasibility of the toolkit. This study is in the data collection phase.
Fairfax Consortium for Evidence-based Practice
In collaboration with Dr. Christy Esposito-Smythers, our lab is working within the Fairfax Consortium for Evidence-based Practice to support equitable, quality mental health service delivery. Projects include:
1) Supervision practices in community mental health with a focus on culturally humble supervision practices
2) The development and evaluation of culturally responsive assessment practices
3) Quantitative and qualitative examination of inequities within the community health care system and understanding and addressing multilevel barriers to quality care for minoritized youth and families. This project is in the developmental phase.
An exploration on the use of cultural assessment tools in behavioral healthcare among early adopters: A mixed methods study
Dr. Amanda Sanchez in collaboration with Dr. Oladunni Oluwoue is leading a survey study in which participants were asked to complete an online cross-sectional survey on the adoption of cultural assessments tools and provide open-ended responses to understand barriers and facilitators related to uptake and implementation. This study is in the analysis and manuscript preparation phase.
Systematic review of culturally adapted anxiety treatment for youth
This project is led by Temma Schaechter and mentored by Dr. Amanda Sanchez. The main questions of this study are 1) How effective are culturally adapted interventions for anxiety and related disorders in improving clinical outcomes and engagement in marginalized youth and 2) What is the feasibility and acceptability of culturally adapted interventions for anxiety and related disorders in marginalized youth from the perspectives of clinicians and families? This project is in the data collection and analysis phase.
Examining systemic and structural inequities among people living with HIV
Ending the HIV Epidemic Supplement, Penn Center for AIDS Research: P30 045088, PI: Beidas
Dr. Amanda Sanchez collaborated with Dr. Rinad Beidas and her team to examine the implementation of a behavioral intervention to improve care retention and adherence for people with HIV (PWH). Dr. Sanchez led the qualitative aim of the study which utilized rapid qualitative analysis to inform implementation mapping (the mapping of potential barriers/facilitators to strategies to address them) and traditional qualitative methods. Questions were incorporated to examine systemic and structural inequities affecting their care. This project is in the analyzing and manuscript writing phase.
Upcoming Projects
We are interested in partnering with community organizations and clinics in Northern Virginia and the surrounding area that support the mental health of marginalized and underserved populations.
