2024 Jenike Young Investigator Award

Utilizing community-based approaches to increase treatment access for Black Americans with OCD: Evaluating the feasibility of The Black and Living with OCd (BLOC) Project, a culturally-informed web-based multimedia program

Ogechi Onyeka, PhD

Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX)

Award Amount: $49,959.00

Although both Black Americans and European Americans experience OCD at similar rates, OCD remains undertreated within the Black community. Several obstacles to treatment (i.e., ERP) have been identified such as treatment costs, limited awareness of treatment, and stigma. However, few studies have examined how to best address these challenges. Online tools such as interactive educational websites with videos and vignettes may be a helpful approach in increasing treatment awareness and access to the specialized treatment required for OCD. This study aims to address these challenges by developing and evaluating a pilot, publicly available, culturally-sensitive online program for Black Americans with OCD called The Black and Living with OCd (BLOC) Project. This study will use community-based participatory approaches to directly engage Black American adults with OCD and clinicians treating minority populations to understand lived experiences and barriers to treatment, and develop and evaluate The BLOC Project for Black Americans with OCD.