Research Areas
- Bipolar Disorder and Other Psychiatric Disorders
- Neurocognitive deterioration
- Inflammatory cytokines, monocyte subpopulations, and B cells
- Adherence/nonadherence to treatment medication
Scientific Achievements
- Developed and validated the RAS-24, the first culturally sensitive medication adherence scale for severe mental illness patients in Puerto Rico
- Designed a psychosocial intervention to promote treatment adherence in bipolar disorder patients at risk of cardiovascular disease
- Established education-adjusted MMSE-2 cutoff points for psychiatric patients, addressing gaps in culturally appropriate cognitive assessment
Funding
RCMI Funding:
- NIH/NIMHD U54MD007600: Pilot Project “Inflammatory cytokines and neurocognitive functioning in bipolar disorder across mood episodes”
Publication obtained with RCMI support: Ralat SI and Rodríguez-Gómez J. The RAS-24: Development and validation of an adherence-to-medication scale for severe mental illness patients. Journal of Clinical and Translational Science 7: e94, 1–10. doi: 10.1017/cts.2023.527
Scientific Advance
The RAS-24: Development and validation of an adherence-to- medication scale for severe mental illness patients.
Published in Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, Volume 7, 2023, PMCID: PMC5945339.
Published in Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, Volume 7, 2023, PMCID: PMC5945339.
This study developed and tested a medication adherence scale designed specifically for patients in Puerto Rico living with serious mental illness (SMI) who also have risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). The researchers started with 147 items including cultural and treatment adherence related themes, filtered them via experts and pilot testing to eventually create a 24-item scale (RAS-24). They found the final scale has strong internal consistency and seems promising for identifying barriers and nonadherence behaviors in this population.
U54 MD007600 (NIMHD / RCMI), R25 MD007607 (NIH / NIMHD), U54 GM133807 (NIH / NIGMS)
