Topics and Cross-Cutting Themes
The Mental Health Section program supports a population health framework that acknowledges the roles of culture, genetics, and social determinants in health and mental health; addresses the impact of stigma; promotes evidence-based practice and policy targeting mental health challenges; and recognizes the importance of health promotion, prevention, early detection, and early intervention.
The Mental Health Section provides a forum to address how issues of health care access and multiple forms of inequality affect the mental health and resilience of communities and groups of individuals. We encourage research, policies, and practices focusing on prevention, health promotion, social justice, and human rights. We are interested in emerging best practices, the organization and financing of services, workforce development, approaches to implementation, and bringing innovation to scale. The Mental Health Section maintains a focus on policy and practice that affect marginalized groups whose opportunities to thrive are diminished by mental illness, developmental disorders, and co-occurring behavioral and physical health challenges. We welcome evidence-based abstracts that address these issues within a public mental health framework, and consider quantitative, mixed, and rigorous qualitative methods; including case studies in policy implementation, community-based, and stakeholder engaged approaches.
The Mental Health Section is committed to supporting the development of its student members. We strongly encourage student abstracts and each year honor one student paper with the Kenneth Lutterman Award for Graduate and Professional Student Research. Awardees are honored at our annual reception with a plaque and provided a complementary conference registration. Details about how to self-nominate and submit your abstract for this Award are found at the end of this Call for Abstracts.
Suggested Topics for Submission
We look forward to creating an educational program for the Conference that enhances attendees’ knowledge and application of cutting-edge research and policy in their respective disciplines. The topic areas below broadly represent issues critical to public mental health that are of interest to Section members. Under each topic we have included examples of relevant content for guidance when submitting your abstract; these are not meant to be an exhaustive list within each topic. Please choose the topic area that most closely fits your abstract, reserving “Other Mental Health Topics” for abstracts that have no overlap with any suggested topics.
***To highlight and support the 2021 Conference theme, "Strengthening Social Connectedness", we are especially interested in abstracts at the intersection of the topics listed below and concerns, issues, or innovations related to the role of social connection in enhancing mental health and wellbeing. Topics may include the following: school connectedness, virtual interactions or social media, virtual or technology-based interventions, faith communities and religion and social connection, peer support or consumer-run programming, social connection and mental health for special populations (e.g., veterans, older adults, LGBTQ individuals, children, non-dominant cultures and communities), social connection and mental health stigma, social connections in the workplace, the role of social connection in addressing grief and loss, ACEs, trauma, or community disaster, assessment and interventions related to family, peer, or social connections at the individual, group, or community level, public policy impacts on social connection, and social connection across the lifespan.***
We understand that the topics listed are not mutually exclusive and that your submission may span multiple topics. Accepted abstracts will be grouped with abstracts of complementary content to create sessions.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT
Abstracts must be submitted electronically through the APHA abstract management web site (see “start abstract submission” link below). The web site provides complete instructions on the length and format of abstracts. You may also contact the Program Chair, Dr. Genevieve Graaf, genevieve.graaf@uta.edu for clarification or assistance.
Abstracts may be submitted for a 15-20-minute oral presentation (that will be grouped by the Program Planner into an oral session), a poster, or as part of a full 90 minute “Special Session” that is constructed on a topic chosen by the submitters. Instructions for Special Sessions are given at the end of this Call for Abstracts.
ABSTRACT FORMAT
Please use one of the following two abstract formats that best fits your submission:
1) Typically used for quantitative research
2) For description and analysis of community initiatives, policy or program implementation studies, innovative strategies designed to impact disparities, and other descriptive or exploratory research
Abstracts are limited to 350 words or less.
Review Criteria
All abstracts are blind reviewed by three reviewers using the following criteria:
Abstracts must comply with Continuing Education Credit requirements in order to be accepted into the conference program; see below for detailed instructions.
Incomplete abstracts will not be reviewed. Only research that will be completed by October 2021 will be accepted.
To assist you in preparing your abstract and understanding related rules and regulations, APHA provides these online instructions: https://apha.confex.com/apha/2021/cfp.cgi
FINAL PROGRAM
The final program will be designed based on peer-reviewed evaluations of the abstract proposals with consideration for available time and space, the program theme, diversity of topics, and topics being presented by invited speakers. The Mental Health Section program will include: 1) poster and oral sessions compiled from the highest scored, individually contributed abstracts, 2) Special Sessions that are fully compiled and coordinated by submitting parties; 3) invited sessions and roundtables on important topics identified by section leadership. We try to honor your preference for an oral or poster session, but Program Planners may reassign abstracts to make the best use of the limited and highly competitive oral sessions.
Acceptance notices will be sent to abstract authors June 1, 2021. Waitlisted abstracts may be invited to participate if accepted abstracts are withdrawn. Abstracts accepted for the APHA Annual Meeting may not be presented at any other meeting or published in any journal prior to October 23, 2021.
If your presentation is accepted, you will be asked to register to attend the Annual Meeting. If you’re not already, please consider becoming a member of APHA and joining the Mental Health Section. APHA is our primary public health advocate - your membership in the Mental Health Section will strengthen the voice for public mental health. The Mental Health Section provides opportunities well beyond the Annual Meeting for you to share your expertise and network with nationally known researchers, administrators, planners, epidemiologists and policy professionals in public mental health. Finally, as our membership grows, so does our number of presentation slots, increasing our ability to offer you a space in an oral or poster session.
Neither APHA nor the Mental Health Section provides financial support for presenter attendance at the Annual Meeting.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SPECIAL SESSION PROPOSALS
Proposals for Special Sessions (90 minutes in length) may be submitted. Each individual abstract for the 3-4 papers to be included in a Special Session must be submitted electronically via the online conference submission AND a one-page Overview of the proposed Session MUST be submitted directly to the planners via email by the MH Section Abstract deadline to Dr. Genevieve Graaf at genevieve.graaf@uta.edu.
We encourage Special-Sessions to allow time for discussion and questions from the audience. Consider a point/counterpoint format or a panel discussion that directly engages the audience. Highlight either of these formats in the Overview and consider the time required to do this effectively.
If the session will include the release of any new reports or data, this should be mentioned in the proposal, along with any plans to promote the session to news media.
Include in your One-page Overview
Submit each individual abstract separately to the APHA electronic abstract submission process. In the "Comments to Organizers" box for each abstract submission, include the following language: “This abstract should be considered as part of (title of Special Session).”
All abstracts are reviewed on their individual merit; the acceptance of a Special Session does not guarantee that all abstracts submitted for that session will be accepted. Unless instructed otherwise, the Mental Health Section Program Committee will consider the individual abstracts from any rejected Special Session for the program and will assign them to the session(s) where they fit best.
If accepted, organizers and presenters will be requested to complete a conflict-of-interest disclosure.
KENNETH LUTTERMAN AWARD FOR GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDENT RESEARCH
Each year, the Mental Health Section recognizes an excellent student paper with the Kenneth Lutterman Award. You must self-nominate. Authors of qualifying abstracts are invited to write a full paper to be considered for the Award. APHA conference registration is covered for the award recipient and the awardee receives a plaque and recognition at our annual reception. Additionally, Lutterman Awardees receive a complementary student member for the following year. To place your abstract in consideration for this award, follow these directions:
When you submit your abstract, self-nominate for the Kenneth Lutterman Award in two places in the APHA online abstract submission webpage:
If your abstract qualifies, you will be asked to submit a full 10-page paper for the Lutterman student paper award by early April 2021 for review by the Awards Committee. At that time, you must verify that the submitted work was done as a student enrolled in a graduate or professional degree program, that you are a member of the APHA Mental Health Section, and your expected date of degree completion.
CONTINUING EDUCATION CREDIT
APHA values the ability to provide continuing education credit to physicians, nurses, health educators, and those certified in public health at its annual meeting. Please complete all required information when submitting an abstract so members can claim credit for attending your session. These credits are necessary for members to keep their licenses and credentials.
All continuing education learning content must be of sound science or professional practice and serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills and professional competence of the health professional. Learning content should be evidence-based if available.
The Mental Health Section has made offering continuing education credit for its oral scientific sessions a priority. Completion of the following information is a criterion for accepting an abstract into the conference program.
For a session to be eligible for Continuing Education Credit:
All abstracts must be free of trade and/or commercial product names
EXAMPLE: State “a major urban health care provider” rather than naming a for-profit business or its products.
EXAMPLE: Compare risk for incarceration by mental health diagnosis, age and race/ethnicity.
Presenting authors must complete and sign the Conflict-of-Interest Disclosure Form provided during the online abstract submission. This includes a relevant qualification statement that specifically justifies their presentation of the material. Please note that a general statement of the author’s training or degrees earned, or a statement that the author is the Principal Investigator/Project Coordinator for the study are not adequate qualification statements.
EXAMPLE 1: I am qualified because I have worked in this area for the last six years. I was a member of the team that conceptualized this project and have been actively involved in all aspects of its execution, including the evaluation of outcomes described in this presentation.
EXAMPLE 2: I am qualified because I have been the principal or co-principal of multiple federally funded grants focusing on the implementation of evidence-based practice for behavioral and chronic health conditions. The development of strategies for diffusion of innovation in public behavioral health treatment settings has been among my scientific interests.
All continuing education learning content must be of sound science or professional practice and serve to maintain, develop, or increase the knowledge, skills and professional competence of the health professional. Learning content should be evidence-based if available.
During the online submission process, authors must select at least one continuing education core area that their abstract addresses. A list of over 30 areas will be provided online for you to choose from. You will be asked to choose at least one or up to 6 areas that your presentation will address.
Thank you for helping to make your session credit worthy. Contact Mighty Fine at mighty.fine@apha.org if you have any questions concerning continuing education. For program questions, contact Program Planner, Dr. Genevieve Graaf at genevieve.graaf@uta.edu.
Genevieve Graaf, PhD
Genevieve.graaf@uta.edu
and
Robin Kimbrough-Melton, JD
Robin.Kimbrough-Melton@cuanschutz.edu
and
Mary Jane Alexander, PhD
mja@nki.rfmh.org
and
Alissa Phelps, MPH
phelpsal@ohsu.edu
and
Betsy Barron,
betsygb1@gmail.com
and
Candice Biernesser, PhD, LCSW
lubbertcl@upmc.edu
and
Chandrakala Ganesh, PhD
chandrakala.ganesh@csueastbay.edu
and
Kaitlyn Frick, B.S.
kaitlyn.frick@siu.edu
and
Hannah Stewart, MPH
hlstewar@usc.edu
and
Kathryn Washington, BA/BS/MPH
Kathryn1.apha@gmail.com
and
Kobi Ajayi, MPH, MBA
okonmavanessa@gmail.com
and
Kaleea Lewis, PhD
Lewiskal@health.missouri.edu
and
Mae L'Heureux, MPH
maelheureux@gmail.com
and
M. J. Scales, MPH, CPS
mjscales@udel.edu
and
Rashad Freeman,
freeman8079@gmail.com
and
Alejandra Rivera, B.S.
ali.rivera@lpfch.org
and
Sherry (Ting-Jung) Sheu, MPH
tsheu@ucdavis.edu
and
Valerie Tsai,
vt2294@caa.columbia.edu
and
Micki Washburn, PhD, LMSW, MA, LPC-S
micki.washburn@uta.edu
and
Emily McCague,
mccaguetj@gmail.com