ABSTRACT
With support from my primary mentor Dr. Borba, my co-mentors Drs. Freier, Dorsey, and Gelaye, and my
collaborator Dr. Bird, I propose a comprehensive interdisciplinary research and training plan focused on
developing my expertise in clinical intervention research and qualitative assessment of cross cultural
adaptations of mental health treatments for people who have migrated due to forced displacement. The
proposed study investigates the potential avenues of treatment for mental health disorders that arise due to
forced displacement in people from Venezuela who have migrated to Peru. My research program goal is to be
an independent researcher and examine mental health treatment for the purpose of understanding treatment
seeking and retention for mental disorders in stigmatized and marginalized populations, such as forcibly
displaced peoples. Preliminary findings from Venezuelans who have migrated into Peru due to the recent
Venezuelan exodus suggest that there are risk factors for mental health particular to the migration journey
context. Thus, this proposal utilizes qualitative methods to examine, and subsequently target, context specific
migration factors that facilitate treatment seeking and retention for forcibly displaced populations in Peru with
mental disorders. Framed within implementation science this proposal will include in person interviews with
people who have been forcibly displaced from Venezuela and migrated into Peru. These interviews will be
leveraged to adapt the Common Elements Treatment Approach, a transdiagnostic intervention, for the unique
challenges of forced displacement. In collaboration with my mentors, I have developed a comprehensive
training plan that will prepare me with the requisite skill set for a research career in global mental health. My
training and career development goals are to cultivate skills in: (1) qualitative methods, (2) cross cultural
adaptations of mental health treatments, and (3) analysis of clinical interventions. These skills will allow me to
become an independent scientist focused on global mental health.