PREVENTIVE INTERVENTION RESEARCH: CHANGING GOALS, CHANGING ROLES.

The article discusses issues related to the establishment of Preventive Intervention Research Centers. In 1982, a Special Research Grant Announcement published by the National Institute of Mental Health invited proposals for the establishment of such centres. The aim of the preventive intervention research would be to test empirically the benefits of systematic attempts to modify those factors that lead to emotional disturbance, maladaptive behavior, significant psychological dysfunction, or specific mental disorders. This new Federal priority eventually will have substantial impact on both the graduate education and the professional roles of researchers and practitioners in the mental health field. Under the new assumptions the aim of centres appear to be: identify a stressful life event that appears to have adverse mental health consequences in a significant proportion of the population; by epidemiological and laboratory methods, study the consequences of that event and develop hypotheses about interventions that might reduce or eliminate the adverse consequences; and mount and evaluate experimental preventive intervention programs based on these hypotheses.