Dr Kyaien Conner, Director of the Center on Race and Social Problems in the School of Social Work has focused her career on mental health and wellness disparities in the African American and Latinix communities. FInding ways to improve mental health is an area that is both professionally and personally compelling for her.
Her current study focuses on the outcomes for African American and Latino/Hispanic patients grappling with chronic illnesses and co-occurring psychiatric conditions following hospitalization-- Examination of The Evidence-Based Care Transitions Intervention Enhanced with Peer Support to Reduce Racial Disparities in Hospital Readmissions and Negative Outcomes Post Hospitalization.
The study has three treatment groups: treatment as usual; a thirty-days Care Transition Intervention (CTI) designed to facilitate their transition from hospital to community life; and the CTI enhanced with peer support, where community elders are trained to provide motivational interviewing interventions based on their personal experiences with hospitalization.
Dr Conner hypothesizes that patients receiving the CTI, in comparison to those receiving standard care, will demonstrate lower rates of hospital readmission, experience a higher quality of life, exhibit improved functional abilities, and report greater self-perceived social support. Furthermore, it is anticipated that patients enrolled in the CTI enhanced with peer support will experience even greater strides in their recovery journey. Thus her work is investigating the "value added" nature of community and peer based supports for African Americans and Latinix clients, and the value of culturally relevant interventions in reducing disparities in health outcomes.
