The National Institutes of Health has presented Anjanette Wells, a Ph.D. candidate in the USC School of Social Work, a $31,000 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award.

The pre-doctoral fellowship, which is given to doctoral students working with an advisor in the field of cancer research, will help fund the study she is conducting alongside social work professor Kathleen Ell on retention of low-income and minority cancer patients in depression treatment programs.

Wells expressed gratitude to Ell, as well as Professor Lawrence Palinkas, both of whom serve as co-chairs on her dissertation committee.

"I have really appreciated their guidance, support and mentorship not only through this project, but through my entire doctoral process," she said.

Wells' research focuses on figuring out why cancer patients drop out of treatment programs that help them deal with depression that often results from the disease, and how to design programs that will best serve patients and keep them participating. She is especially interested in assisting low-income and minority patients.

The study is broken down into three phases of data collection and analysis of both patients and health care providers. Wells has interviewed patients who have dropped out, as well as those who have completed depression programs to compare their responses to the treatments. She is now in the process of reviewing the clinical notes of the providers. In the final phase, she will host a focus group with care providers to create new strategies to aid and retain struggling patients.

"We have a lot of ideas about the different barriers and what we think is contributing to them dropping out, but it's important to hear from their perspective to find out why they dropped out, what they need and how to help other patients who are similar to them to be retained in treatment," Wells said.

Wells became interested in this area of research while working with Ell on the Alleviating Depression Among Patients with Cancer (ADAPt-C) randomized clinical trial, which tested the effectiveness of a socioculturally tailored collaborative care intervention. She wanted to understand why patients were dropping out of the study despite numerous incentives for them to remain.

"That experience really allowed me to lend my 15 years of previous experience at hospitals to a research trial, giving me the opportunity as a therapist to blend practice and research. That's really what I'm interested in doing."