The study examines:

• The phenomenology of the suicide attempts from the girls’ perspective

• Parents’ understandings of their daughters’ suicide attempt

• Familial, developmental, and sociocultural experiences that distinguish adolescent Latina attempters and their parents from non-attempters and parents

Developing Interventions for Latino Children, Youth and Families

Three scientific meetings designed to:

• Identify conceptual definitions of core cultural constructs of diverse Latino groups necessary for adapting interventions for children, youth and parents

• Generate operational descriptions of how each core cultural construct is manifested behaviorally by Latinos in different age groups

• Transform the constructs into intervention-behaviors that therapists can use with clients; support the development of conceptual models and methodological approaches to adapting extant psychosocial interventions by junior investigators that integrate the definitions

• Disseminate knowledge gained in theses meetings through publications

Principal Investigator: Luis H. Zayas
Funder: National Institute of Mental Health

Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative: Grantee Implementation Evaluation

This is a national evaluation project that examines the ways in which federal Hispanic Healthy Marriage Initiative (DHHS) grantees are developing, adapting, and implementing culturally relevant and culturally appropriate healthy marriage programs for Hispanic populations. The project documents the diverse programmatic approaches being implemented by a sample of healthy marriage grantees serving Hispanic families, identifies the lessons learned in implementing these approaches, and generates hypothesis about which approaches and practices appear to be effective.

Co-Investigator: Luis H. Zayas
Co-Investigator: The Lewin Group
Funder: Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families

Program Evaluation of the ROAD (Realizing Open
Adoption Dreams)/El Camino

This project is an evaluation of a federally-funded program aimed at moving older adolescents in the New York City foster care system toward adoption while maintaining contact with their biological families (open adoptions). This ensures that they will age out of the foster care system with a network of support in place.

Co-Investigator: Luis R. Torres
Co-Investigator: Luis H. Zayas
Co-Investigator: Ernesto Loperena, New York Council on Adoptable Children
Funder: Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families


Cultural Childrearing Constructs of Latino Mothers of Young Children with Developmental Problems

This project, conducted in conjunction with New York City investigators  at the Morrisania Diagnostic and Treatment Center, New York Medical College, and New York University, has as its core aim to increase our understanding of culturally relevant aspects of parenting among Latino mothers of young children with developmental problems that will result in the creation of culturally informed parenting measures for this population.

Co-Investigator: Luis H. Zayas
Co-Investigator: Carolina Hausmann-Stabile
Sponsor: Center for Latino Family Research

Examining the Social Validity of Child Behavior Problems with Latino Parents

This project focuses on the social validity of treatment goals for parenting interventions with Latino families.  Specifically, the research seeks answers to such questions as, do Latino parents agree on the goals, approaches and outcomes of parenting interventions that are offered by services?  Immigrant Mexican parents in Texas and immigrant Dominican parents in New York comprise the sample.

Co-Investigator: Joaquin Borrego, Texas Tech
Co-Investigator: Esther Calzada (NYU)
Co-Investigator: Luis H. Zayas 
Sponsor: Center for Mental Health Services Research and Center for Latino Family Research

Promoting Responsible Fatherhood: Building Pathways for Latino Fathers

This project is an evaluation of a federally-funded program that tests a marriage enrichment curriculum among diverse groups of Latino couples with the intent of enhancing the fathering experience of Hispanic men.

Co-Investigator: Thyria Alvarez-Sanchez
Co-Investigator: Luis H. Zayas
Program Director: Abigail Karic, Puerto Rican Family Institute, NYC
Funder: Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families

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