NIH participating Institutes and Centers invite applications for behavioral and social science research on the causes and solutions to health and disabilities disparities in the U. S. population. Health disparities between, on the one hand, racial/ethnic populations, lower socioeconomic classes, and rural residents and, on the other hand, the overall U.S. population are major public health concerns. Emphasis is placed on research in and among three broad areas of action: 1) public policy, 2) health care, and 3) disease/disability prevention. Particular attention is given to reducing “health gaps” among groups. Applications that utilize an interdisciplinary approach, investigate multiple levels of analysis, incorporate a life-course perspective, and/or employ innovative methods such as systems science or community-based participatory research are particularly encouraged. This program will use the NIH Research Project (R01) award mechanism.
NIH issues this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to encourage research project grant applications (R01) employing behavioral and social science theories, concepts, and methods (1) to improve understanding of the causes of disparities in health and disability among the various populations of the United States and (2) to develop and test interventions for reducing and eventually eliminating health disparities. The goal is to move beyond documenting the existence of health and disability disparities to addressing causes and solutions.
This announcement calls for research to address and to improve understanding of the causes of health disparities. In so doing, the announcement stresses the explicit employment of concepts and models from the behavioral and social sciences to guide applications in basic social and behavioral, and applied social and behavioral research by focusing on three action areas: public policy, health care, and disease/disability prevention. It emphasizes (1) basic social and behavioral research — acting with or through biological — pathways that give rise to disparities in health and (2) applied or translational research on the development, testing, adaptation, and delivery of interventions to reduce disparities. It encourages a multi-level analytic framework (i.e., ranging from individuals to societies) in investigating public health issues and their interactions (e.g., multiple morbidities rather than single illnesses) as well as attention to risk factors or causal processes common to various health conditions (e.g., smoking, diet, exercise, environmental risk, and access to health care).
Moreover, this announcement encourages research on the causes of and solutions to the “health differences” between a focus-population group and a reference-population group. By definition, health disparities refer to the health of a group in comparison to that of other groups. Although improving the absolute level of a group’s health is a laudable goal, it may not result in changing the group’s relative level of health. The reference population’s health might also improve, thereby maintaining or widening the gap. The study of a single population group, in order to elucidate the circumstances that may contribute to health disparities or to test an intervention targeting a particular group, may be included under this announcement; however, the relevance to disparities must be addressed explicitly.
For additional information, please view the NIH Announcement here.
