Research
Rutgers Center for Whole Person Health (RWPH) houses multiple research projects sponsored by diverse donors including government, foundations, and private sector. Each of the center’s research projects engage scientists from distinct disciplines, as well as community partners. RWPH’s current research sites include work being conducted across the United States, as well as in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa.
RWPH research responds to community identified needs, priorities and assets in each of the population groups and geographic settings that we work. The engagement of community-based organizations, leaders and members is essential to our mission and reflective of our principles and values. RWPH often employs a multiple principal investigator (MPI) approach to promote meaningful and equitable partnerships.
Featured Research Project
Testing the feasibility and initial efficacy of a mindfulness-based character strengths intervention to improve the mental health of women with HIV in the Dominican Republic; (MPI: Dr. Yeycy Donastorg, Instituto Dermatológico Dominicano y Cirugía de Piel, and Dr. Deanna Kerrigan, Rutgers University School of Public Health); Project sponsor: Templeton World Charity Foundation.
Project Summary: There is an urgent need to develop effective interventions to address the inequitable burden of mental health challenges among women in low- and middle-income countries. Women experiencing multiple forms of stigma are at particularly high risk of depression. Previous work with our cohort of women with HIV in the Dominican Republic showed that the majority of participants had depressive symptoms but that participants with greater levels of mindfulness were significantly less likely to experience HIV stigma and depression, and more likely to have better HIV treatment outcomes. Interventions that promote resilience by increasing mindfulness and leveraging character strengths have been found to improve mental health in higher income settings; yet, no such models exist in low- and middle-income countries or among women with HIV. Our team of binational researchers and community partners used findings from mixed methods formative research to develop a mindfulness-based character strengths intervention called Conciencia Plena (CP) (Mindfulness). The project currently seeks to : (1) assess the feasibility and initial efficacy of the CP intervention on mental health using a pilot randomized trial; (2) examine the pathways between the intervention and mental health and HIV outcomes; and (3) explore intervention and implementation experiences.