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For
Immediate Release
January 3, 2007
Social Work Professor Receives Three-Year, $650,000 Grant from the National Institute of Mental Health
New York, NY – Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, an
associate professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work,
has received a three year, $650,000 grant from the National Institute
of Mental Health. The grant will be used to develop a social work
intervention to improve parent-adolescent communication and to prevent
adolescent sexual risk behavior among Latino and African American
youth.
The goal of the research program is to develop a practical, effective,
and cost-efficient parent intervention that can be used in healthcare
settings that will reach large numbers of parents and prevent premature
adolescent sexual activity. “Social workers provide a critical
set of services in healthcare settings across the country,” says
Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, “The research gives us an important
opportunity to demonstrate the efficacy of social workers and their
interventions. The intervention we are proposing will allow us to
formally document how social work can promote the health and well-being
of Latino and African American adolescents and their families.”
The proposed intervention, which targets mothers and their teenage
daughters, is unique in several ways. First, the intervention will take
place in a primary healthcare clinic when physicians see adolescents
for their annual physical exams. Second, the intervention will be
coordinated and delivered by social workers who are placed in the
healthcare setting. A mother who accompanies her adolescent to his or
her annual physical examination will meet with a social work
interventionist while her child sees the physician. At the conclusion
of the face-to-face intervention session, the mother will be given a
family handbook and activity book to take home to facilitate
discussions and family “homework assignments” about sex
with her adolescent. The social work interventionist will maintain
contact with the family at predetermined intervals in order to support
use of the family manual and completion of the parent-adolescent
activities.
The research will lead to and provide evidence for a subsequent
proposal to conduct a large-scale clinical trial. The project is set to
begin in January 2007 and will conclude in 2010.
For more information or to interview Dr. Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, please
contact Jeannie Yip at 212-851-2327 or [email protected].
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About CUSSW
(www.socialwork.columbia.edu)
For more than 100 years, the Columbia
University School of Social Work has been the leader in practice and
policy. Located in New York City, the School offers Master's and
Doctoral programs which are nationally and internationally recognized
for their excellence. With a signature curriculum and far-reaching
field education experience, CUSSW continues to be at the forefront of
clinical practice, public policy, teaching, research and social work
innovation in the 21st Century.
About Vincent Guilamo-Ramos
Dr. Guilamo-Ramos has worked primarily with minority youth and their
families. His interests are related to family based approaches to
reduce adolescent risk behaviors. Dr. Guilamo-Ramos was employed at the
Hetrick Martin Institute, a social service agency dedicated to meeting
the unique needs of gay, lesbian, transgender, and questioning youths.
In addition, he has worked at a number of New York City based social
service agencies serving Latino youths and their families. Currently,
Dr. Guilamo-Ramos is a national trainer on the "HIV/AIDS Spectrum
Project (NASW-National Office). In this role, he has trained social
workers around the country on the mental health aspects of HIV disease.
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