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APPENDIX D 84 approaches. For example, a 1986 survey of graduate programs in psychology reported that only 108 quantitative psychology students were enrolled. 6 Only a small fraction of these have the training to work with interdisciplinary teams to conduct prevention research. 2) There is a paucity of research oriented psychiatrists, currently active in prevention research. For example, across the five NIMH Preventive Intervention Research Centers there is only one research psychiatrist. This lack makes it particularly difficult to integrate a biosocial perspective into the field. What kinds of National Research Service Awards are needed to meet the training objectives? The most pressing need is for an increase in the allocation of funds for training in prevention research. The current situation where there are only two funded training programs is a serious threat to the future development of the field. Increased funding is needed for predoctoral, postdoctoral, and continuing training across the career levels. Currently only one predoctoral fellow is being supported by an NIMH prevention research training grant. Thus, the opportunity is being missed to attract new scientists who initially learn to conceptualize research questions from a prevention perspective. Postdoctoral training awards provide an excellent opportunity to specialize after receiving a degree in an established discipline. NIMH has had three post-doctoral training programs in prevention research: at Yale,7 Johns Hopkins University, and Arizona State University. 8 Collectively they have graduated 14 fellows who now hold positions either as Assistant Professors or Research Associates specializing in prevention research. Two of the six fellows from the Arizona State University program are either Principal Investigators or Co-Principal Investigators on NIH or NSF funded prevention studies. Several changes are needed in how these awards are structured to make them more attractive to scholars and to sponsoring institutions. Institutional postdoctoral grants currently do not provide sufficiently high levels of stipends, do not provide a mechanism for funding faculty to work with postdoctoral fellows, and do not provide sufficient funds for fellows to conduct pilot studies to develop their own initial programs of research. In order to facilitate training of mid-career scientists for prevention research, additional mechanisms are needed. These include the development of prevention research consortia in which investigators from multiple areas could focus on a particular problem in prevention research and mature investigators who are pursuing relevant but slightly peripheral lines of inquiry could be brought into the field. Another mechanism is investigator initiated training awards. An investigator would propose a series of training activities over a 6 to 24 month period, while continuing essentially full-time in their current employment. The activities could include participation in specific workshops or a series of short courses, working in the laboratory of an established researcher, etc. Another mechanism would be an investigator initiated postdoctoral fellowship in which a mature scholar would spend 12 to 24 months working on site with a recognized prevention researcher. What steps are needed to improve the effectiveness of the NRSA program to recruit minority researchers? Because ethnic minority and poor people are at high risk for mental health problems, they are often the participants in prevention programs. Consequently, issues of developing culturally appropriate interventions are particularly salient, and it is highly desirable that ethnic minority investigators are trained to conduct such studies. All current NRSA programs for recruitment of minorities into research careers should be expanded to include a special emphasis on prevention. In particular, existing programs that provide prevention programs with additional funds as encouragement to involve minority students and investigators should be strengthened. NOTES 1. For a copy of the report of the Panel describing the NIMHfunded prevention research training program at Arizona State University, contact Dr. Sandier at Arizona State University, Department of Psychology, Tempe, Arizona, 85287, (602) 965-7420. 2. Institute of Medicine. (1989). Research on children and adolescents with mental, behavioral, and developmental disorder: Mobilizing a national agenda. Washington, D. C. : National Academy Press. 3. Costello, E.J. & Shugart, M.A. (1992). Above and below the threshold: Severity of psychiatric symptoms and functional impairment in a pediatric sample. Pediatrics, 90, pp. 359-368. 4. Price, R.H., E.L. Cowen, R.P. Lorion, and J. Ramos-McKay. (1988). Fourteen ounces of prevention: A casebook for practitioners. American Psychological Association. 5. Muehrer, P. (1990). Conceptual research models for
