Dr. Michael A. Lindsey's Abstract for SPR Annual Meeting Deemed an "Abstract of Distinction"
The Society for Prevention Research (SPR) designated Dr. Michael A. Lindsey's abstract entitled “The Making Connections Intervention: Engaging African American Youth in School Mental Health and Preventative Services” an “Abstract of Distinction” at its 25th Annual Meeting, which will be held May 30 – June 2, 2017 at the Hyatt Regency Washington in Washington, DC.
According to SPR Executive Director Jennifer Lewis, this is the first year that the society has conferred the honor of “Abstract of Distinction” on annual meeting submissions. “Our goal,” she said, “is to identify and highlight abstracts and topics that are particularly noteworthy to generate excitement and attendance at the presentations.”
Dr. Lindsey, McSilver Professor of Poverty Studies and Director of NYU Silver’s McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, will share data from a pilot study of The Making Connections Intervention (MCI), which was developed to promote engagement in school mental health services among Black adolescents with depression and other mental disorders.
As Dr. Lindsey’s explained in his abstract, “MCI is a 1-2 session intervention for adolescents and their caregivers in which the therapist, while utilizing screenings and assessments, seeks to clarify the need for mental health care, increase the adolescent’s investment in help-seeking, review the adolescent’s stage of change, address obstacles that might impede mental health services, and develop strategies to overcome the individual’s expressed barriers to treatment via a decisional balance and culturally-sensitive role plays.” In the pilot study on which Dr. Lindsey will present, MCI was used in concert with prevention interventions to increase treatment engagement and completion.
Dr. Lindsey will present his abstract as part of a special session on “Measuring and Optimizing Engagement in Preventive Interventions for Youth and Families of Color” on June 2 from 2:45 PM-4:15 PM.