The Yale Institute for Global Health (YIGH) has selected Nicola Hawley, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, to receive the 2024 Hecht Global Health Faculty Network Award. Her project, affiliated with the Yale Network for Global NCDs (NGN), will focus on adapting and pilot testing an intervention designed to promote mental health among adolescents in American Samoa.
Other collaborators that are part of the award include Sarah Lowe, Associate Professor of Public Health, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Clinical Professor of Nursing, and Hilary Blumberg, John and Hope Furth Professor of Psychiatric Neuroscience and Professor of Psychiatry, and in the Child Study Center, and of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging.
“We are thrilled to receive a Hecht Award from YIGH to support this important work,” said Dr. Hawley. “This project is the result of several years of truly community partnered research, much of which has been led by current PhD student Emma Mew. We are looking forward to providing local mental health leaders with an intervention that can hopefully begin to address some of the challenges the territory is facing.”
Dr. Sarah Lowe also expressed her excitement, adding that she is “grateful for the opportunity to continue working with Nicky Hawley, Emma Mew, and our colleagues in American Samoa on this project – and to involve new trainees in these efforts. The award will start the work of translating our initial findings on the mental health problems that adolescents and their families in the community are facing into action.”
“I am delighted this Hecht Award from YIGH will provide me the opportunity to collaborate on this important project.” said Dr. Blumberg. “This work not only has potential to improve mental health and decrease suicide rates in American Samoa, but it also has potential to provide a global model that could contribute to benefits worldwide.”
The Hecht Global Health Faculty Network Award was created as a central component of the YIGH Faculty Support Initiative. The Award is focused on promoting new research and programs in global health undertaken by YIGH Faculty Networks, which are groups of Yale faculty who coalesce to form a long-term, collaborative academic and/or research partnership centered on a thematic or geographic area. YIGH currently hosts 13 Faculty Networks focused on a range of issues. The Awards are intended to lay the foundation for recipients’ successful pursuit of additional funding opportunities. Read more about the project below.
In American Samoa adolescent mental health is a major community and public health concern with high prevalence of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Given that the health system in the territory is under resourced, there is a need to develop community-based interventions that leverage the strengths of the Samoan culture. Building on formative work from Chronic Disease Epidemiology PhD student Emma Mew, and as a first step to a larger trial, the team will adapt and pilot test a family skills intervention to determine feasibility, acceptability, and potential impact on mental health outcomes. The project will engage students from the Yale School of Public Health and the American Samoa Community College, offering an opportunity for bi-directional learning and local capacity building.