![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/SOAR-Mental-Health-Study-SIDE.jpg\")
Dr. Xin Wang, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience, is the State of Ohio Adversity and Resilience Study’s lead scientist at UToledo.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of studies that have focused on patients who have mental health challenges. There are very few studies that look at resiliency \u2014 what are the factors that help them get through difficult situations and difficult events,\u201d said Dr. Xin Wang, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience and the study\u2019s lead scientist at UToledo. \u201cThis is a new kind of thinking in mental health research.\u201d<\/p>\n
UToledo is one of several leading Ohio academic institutions taking part in the project, which is being spearheaded by Ohio State University.<\/p>\n
The State of Ohio Adversity and Resilience Study, or SOAR, launched earlier this year with a survey that includes questions about resiliency, substance abuse, depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions. Researchers hope it will be completed by as many as 15,000 Ohioans across all 88 counties.<\/p>\n
In the study\u2019s second phase, scientists at five sites across the state \u2014 including UToledo \u2014 will conduct advanced brain imaging, computer-based neuropsychological tests and collect blood samples from multiple members of the same family.<\/p>\n
The idea, Wang said, is to be able to compare and contrast susceptibility and resiliency seen among individuals with similar genes, environmental and socioeconomic factors.<\/p>\n
UToledo has received a $500,000 sub-award to fund its part of the research, which calls for collecting data from at least 210 individuals.<\/p>\n
In total, the project aims to collect data of 3,600 people from 1,200 individual families across the five research sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very excited to participate in a catchment study focused on Ohioans. This project has the potential to help people with one of their most fundamental needs \u2014 their health \u2014 by taking a close look at the factors that contribute to wellness and recovery,\u201d said Dr. Robert Smith, professor and chair of the departments of neuroscience and psychiatry in the UToledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, and a co-principal investigator leading this project at UToledo.<\/p>\n
From survey responses and an analysis of biological factors, researchers hope to identify the root causes of the uptick in mental health disorders, suicide and overdose deaths observed statewide and to better understand the factors that lead to resiliency.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone experiences challenges in their life,\u201d Wang said, \u201cbut we don\u2019t fully know why some people are more resilient than others, particularly within the same family. Through this study, we hope to identify factors that can be modified to reduce risk and build resilience broadly across the population, reducing mental health and substance use disorders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wang, whose research is primarily focused on post-traumatic stress disorder, also is hopeful the data collected through the SOAR project might yield clues about the development of PTSD and inform future PTSD research projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only is this an important research project that will benefit people in northwest Ohio and across the state, but it\u2019s also a chance for us to establish a deeper relationship with other prestigious research institutes in Ohio,\u201d Wang said. \u201cWe see opportunities for future collaboration based on the work we\u2019re doing here.\u201d<\/p>\n
UToledo is expected to begin gathering data from study participants in March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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