Training, Consultation, and Technical Assistance

To promote and facilitate mental-health research, a variety of services are provided under the STIMHR grant, including workshops, sponsorship for continuing education, consultation and technical assistance, and peer feedback and review.  

• UTSA Workshops. In close collaboration with the Cajal Neuroscience Institute, STIMHR offers workshops that cover three areas: (a) technical subjects such as biostatistics and statistical modeling; (b) clinical issues such as human subjects and ethics; and (c) current issues, including mental health disparities. The workshops are approximately three hours in length and will be offered every two months. In most cases, local experts conduct the sessions. The workshops sharpen methodological skills, enhance awareness of current mental health issues, generate ideas for research projects, and promote interactions among investigators. In addition, UTSA faculty are encouraged to attend relevant in-service workshops offered by other MHRA entities.

• Sponsorship of Continuing Education. UTSA faculty members are eligible for awards to defray the cost of travel and registration for continuing education programs that enhance ability to conduct mental-health research. STIMHR sponsors at least one faculty member each summer to attend selected programs such as the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research Summer Program in Quantitative Methods at the University of Michigan or the summer program in epidemiology and methods at Johns Hopkins.

• Consultation/Technical Assistance. STIMHR helps faculty with statistical, methodological, or theoretical questions. All requests for assistance should come to the STIMHR Director, who will assess the request and forward it to one or more members of the MHRA Consultants. The consulting pool will consist of volunteer members from the Facilitated Collaboration Program who have developed special areas of expertise in mental-health research. The STIMHR office keeps a record of the consults and their outcomes as part of the program evaluation.

• Grant Proposal Training and Review. As a joint effort of the Latino Health Research Initiative and the Office of Research Development, UTSA offers a specialized version of its grant proposal workshop that focuses on mental health. In addition, STIMHR makes its consulting services available for preliminary review of grant proposals. The feedback of experts in the area enables researchers to hone their grant proposals and maximize the likelihood of funding.

• Informal Feedback. The STIMHR office organizes brown-bag lunch presentations approximately every two months where investigators can discuss their research and receive feedback. This informal forum is a valuable aid in refining research plans and gaining different perspectives on the issues.