Community mental health support for cancer survivors
Official title: Mental Health CPR: Transforming Cancer Survivors' Mental Health with Community Participatory Reach
Funded at Ponce School of Medicine · NIH-11173865 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project trains local community leaders and builds local programs to make mental-health support easier to find and use for people living with and after cancer.
Quick facts
| Grant type | U01 cooperative agreement |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Ponce School of Medicine NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Ponce, United States) |
| Project start | September 20, 2023 |
| Project end | August 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $1,377,752 |
| NIH project number | 5U01CA290613-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11173865 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are people currently living with cancer or who have completed cancer treatment and who are experiencing stress, anxiety, depression, or barriers to getting mental-health care.
✕Less likely to help
People without a cancer history, those living far from participating community sites, or anyone needing urgent psychiatric hospitalization are unlikely to benefit from participation.
What this research studies
You would be connected with community-trained lay health workers and local services that focus on cancer-related stress and emotional needs. The team works with community partners and health centers to offer screening for distress, education about mental-health care, and tailored individual and group supports. They will adapt proven approaches to fit local cultures and may include basic biological measures of chronic stress to better understand links between stress and cancer outcomes. The goal is to bring mental-health care closer to where survivors live so it is easier to use and more acceptable.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could increase access to mental-health care and reduce emotional distress for cancer patients and survivors.
How similar studies have gone: Similar community health worker and psycho-oncology programs have improved screening and symptoms in some settings, but this combined multilevel community–institution approach is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Ponce School of Medicine
Ponce, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Castro, Eida Maria — Ponce School of Medicine
- Study coordinator: Castro, Eida Maria
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.