Disparities Research Unit

Disparities Research Unit News

New Releases

The Disparities Research Unit’s recent research focuses on the opportunity to address workforce gaps by training clinically supervised Community Health Workers (CHWs) to provide important healthcare interventions.

Results of the Disparities Research Unit’s collaborative Strong Minds Strong Communities research trial have been published in the Lancet. This psychoeducational intervention offered by Community Health Workers (CHWs) successfully improved depression and anxiety symptoms among racial, ethnic, and linguistic minoritized adults.

• Alegría M, Stein GL, Cruz-Gonzalez M, Falgas-Bague I, Markle SL, Eddington KM, Supple A, Fuentes L, Poindexter C, Shrout PE. Building community capacity in mental health care with the Strong Minds-Strong Communities programme: a randomised controlled trial in the USA. Lancet. 2025 Aug 23;406(10505):832-845. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)00859-1. PMID: 40849140.

Our narrative review addresses the role of CHWs in addressing gaps in mental health service access.

• Bruno Ortiz TN, DeChristofaro SC, Cheng M, Alegría M. Community Health Workers Research: Where Are We Now? A Narrative Review of an Expanding Workforce for Mental Health. Harv Rev Psychiatry. 2025 May-Jun 01;33(3):103-113. doi: 10.1097/HRP.0000000000000427. PMID: 40344415.

Researchers and collaborators continued to addressed outcomes from the Seguimos Avanzando study of youth in Indiana.

• Zhen-Duan, J., Cruz-Gonzalez, M., Diaz, J., Sánchez, M., Park, I., Alvarez, K., Yip, T., Wang, L., Valentino, K., & Alegría, M. (2025). Intergenerational continuity of adverse childhood experiences among Mexican-origin families: Examination of intra and extra-familial adversities. Family Process, 64(1), e13091. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.13091
• Wang, Y., Zhao, Z., Zhang, M., Zhang, Y., Yan, J., Jelsma, E., Cham, H., Alegría, M., Yip, T. Sleep as a protective factor: Multiple forms of discrimination and substance use intention among racially and ethnically minoritized U.S. youth. J Adolesc Health. 2025 Apr;76(4):718-726. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.12.004. Epub 2025 Feb 13. PMID: 39945682; PMCID: PMC11930617.
• Yip T, Yan J, Zhang MR, Wang Y, Zhao Z, Cham H, Alegría M. School start times and racial disparities in early adolescent sleep. Sleep Health. 2025 Jul 31:S2352-7218(25)00151-2. doi: 10.1016/j.sleh.2025.07.003. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40750506; PMCID: PMC12418717
• Park IJK, Wang L, Li R, Yip T, Valentino K, Cruz-Gonzalez M, Giraldo-Santiago N, Lorenzo K, Zhen-Duan J, Alvarez K, Alegría M. A daily diary study of discrimination and distress in Mexican-origin adolescents: Testing mediating mechanisms. Child Dev. 2024 Sep-Oct;95(5):1754-1769. doi: 10.1111/cdev.14108. Epub 2024 May 2. PMID: 38698702.
• Alegría, M., Cruz-Gonzalez, M., Yip, T., Wang, L., Park, I. J. K., Fukuda, M., Valentino, K., Giraldo-Santiago, N., Zhen-Duan, J., Alvarez, K., Barrutia, X. A., & Shrout, P. E. (2024). Yearly and Daily Discrimination-Related Stressors and Mexican Youth’s Mental Health and Sleep: Insights from the First Wave of a Three-Wave Family Study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Feb 15:S0890-8567(24) 00066-2. PMCID: PMC11324854 (available on 2025-11-01) DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2023.12.010
• Valentino, K., Park, I. J. K., Cruz-Gonzalez, M., Zhen-Duan, J., Wang, L., Lorenzo, K., Dias, D., Alvarez, K., & Alegría, M. (2024). Family-Level Moderators of Daily Associations Between Discrimination and Distress Among Mexican-Origin Youth. Development and Psychopathology, 1-16. PMID: 38584283. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579424000749

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Alegria received the 2022 Inclusive Voices Award from the American Association for Public Opinion Research at the 77th Annual Conference in Chicago in May 2022. She accepted the award on behalf of her collaborators for their groundbreaking work on the National Latino and Asian American (NLAAS) study.