Anu Asnaani, PhD
Associate Professor
Psychology
Profile
The Utah CTSI had the privilege of talking to Anu Asnaani, a Community & Academic Partnership Pilot (CAPP) program awardee. We thank her for taking the time to answer our questions about her research dealing with improving treatments for fear-based disorders.
What is your research area?
I currently serve as the Principal Investigator of the Treatment Mechanisms, Community Empowerment, and Technology Innovations (TCT) laboratory where my research focuses on understanding the underlying mechanisms to improve treatments for fear-based disorders such as anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder in diverse local and global community settings. I am particularly interested in expanding our understanding about how basic emotion processes (such as how we regulate strong emotions in the face of stressful life events or how we tolerate distress) can be targeted to reduce negative impacts on mental health, and how we can do this for society at large nationally and globally.
What makes it relevant?
This work is particularly relevant within the context of current psychological research because it helps build a better understanding of the mechanisms that maintain and underlie meaningful change in fear-based symptoms to inform future intervention efforts for these symptoms, aims to improve outcomes that matter to a wider range of individuals in an effort to empower our communities...and leverages the latest technological and other innovations in order to expand the scope and access to evidence-based interventions on a local and global scale.
How does it help the world?
A core tenant of the work of my lab is ensuring that the work we engage in, whether it’s a small pilot project or large extramurally funded project, will measurably and observably improve the lives of communities...We utilize a consistent community-engaged approach in all we do to ensure we involve stakeholders who are the ultimate recipients of our interventions as equal partners in the design and implementation of our research, in line with scientific principles for most effective health services research. In our lab, that has meant building meaningful and long-lasting relationships that are reciprocal in terms of trainings and interventions we can bring to various communities, and consequently learning from community members about what our work should include and how our research should be implemented to properly center the voices of those we aim to serve.
How has the CTSI helped you?
The CTSI’s Community Collaboration and Engagement Team (CCET) has been an integral force in connecting my team to community stakeholders so we can increase the bidirectional communication between researchers and a range of communities in Utah directly. It is thanks to the connections they fostered and allowed my lab to make with the Community Faces of Utah organization that we have been able to appreciably improve the lives of a number of different individuals in the greater Salt Lake area and work with the Utah Department of Health to improve frontline provider training in evidence-based mental health interventions. In addition, the CTSI funded my first pilot grant 5 years ago so that we could work closely with the CFU communities to understand their mental health priorities and barriers, and to find commonalities and differences between the various member organizations of CFU. This initial study has since provided crucial foundational data for three additional funded projects that provide mental health screening, assessments, and interventions in partnership with specific communities under the CFU umbrella. The support, opportunities, and demonstrated values of CTSI in assisting researchers such as myself to address items of critical relevance to reducing societal mental health burden have been very valued and appreciated.