Deadline: 7-Jun-23
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is seeking applications for its Community Level Interventions to Improve Minority Health and Reduce Health Disparities.
The purpose of this initiative is to support research to develop and test community-level interventions to improve minority health and reduce health disparities.
Research Objectives
This initiative will support research projects to develop and test prospective community-level interventions to improve minority health and decrease health disparities. Community-level intervention projects are expected to have the following features:
- Are led by or conducted in full partnership with appropriate community partners, such as community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, local businesses, neighborhood associations, labor unions, patient or consumer advocacy groups, public health departments, healthcare systems, school systems, law enforcement or criminal justice agencies, social service agencies, or departments of commerce, labor, transportation, housing, recreation. Multi-sectoral collaborations involving partnerships with multiple types of organizations in the public and private sector are strongly encouraged.
- Are focused on improving health outcomes or reducing health disparities in one or more NIH-designated health disparity populations in the US.
- Are focused on the entire population in communities (e.g., an intervention to increase the availability of fresh produce or walkable green spaces) or a specific population within communities (e.g., an intervention to improve physical activity among high school students or older adults within the community).
- Are guided by a conceptual model identifying hypothesized pathways between the community-level intervention, community-level determinants, and health outcomes.
- Collect or obtain data beyond individual self-report to determine how the intervention is impacting community-level determinants of health.
- Are supported by relevant preliminary data. It is not required for the community-level intervention to have been pilot tested in multiple communities.
- Prospectively test the impact of interventions on self-reported or measured health outcomes. Retrospective analysis of existing or past community-level interventions or initiatives are not responsive to this initiative.
- Include health outcomes at the individual, interpersonal/organizational, or community level, or a combination.
- Use appropriate measures and analytic methods appropriate for examining community-level mechanisms of action and health outcomes.
- Test interventions that have the potential to be sustainable in the community after project funding is over.
Specific Areas of Research Interest
Community-level intervention targets of special interest include but are not limited to the following:
- Increasing affordable healthy food options and opportunities for physical activity outside the home.
- Changing community norms and reducing structural barriers related to health promoting behaviors, such as breastfeeding, vaccination, physical activity, and preventive health screening.
- Improving community attitudes (e.g., reducing prejudice, stigma, or discrimination) towards sociodemographic groups (e.g., racial/ethnic minorities, sexual and gender minorities) or towards individuals with certain health conditions (e.g., HIV, mental illness) that are detrimental to the health and well-being of these populations.
- Promoting screening, detection, help-seeking, and self-management related to acute or chronic illnesses (e.g., COVID-19, cancer, HIV, stroke, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, substance use disorders).
- Enhancing the ability of community-dwelling older adults to age in place or individuals with disabilities to live independently and maintain health and well-being.
- Promoting community re-integration and health of individuals returning to the community after incarceration or institutionalization.
- Promoting healthy transition of individuals returning to the community after acute or chronic hospitalization.
- Preventing accidental injury, interpersonal violence, or suicide and suicide thoughts and behaviors especially with use of firearms.
NIMHD also encourages the use of standardized measures for conducting health disparities research such as the Phenx tool kit. Investigators involved in human-subject studies are strongly encouraged to employ a common set of tools and resources that will promote the collection of comparable data on SDOH across studies.
Funding Information
- NIMHD intends to commit an estimated total of $10,000,000 to fund approximately 6 awards.
- Application budgets are limited to $1,000,000 direct costs annually, not including Consortium F&A costs.
- The scope of the proposed project should determine the project period. The maximum project period is 5 years.
Eligibility Criteria
- Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities
- County governments
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- For profit organizations other than small businesses
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Private institutions of higher education
- Special district governments
- Small businesses
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- City or township governments
- Independent school districts
- State governments
- Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- Others
For more information, visit Grants.gov.