This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is issued by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) to encourage research that seeks to build the science of family-centered self-management (FCSM) in chronic conditions.

Objective: Taking into account its research objectives of the NINR, examples of approaches to this opportunity are as follows but are not limited to:

- Develop and test FCSM interventions that promote family equilibrium for individuals with chronic conditions as well as when multiple family members have chronic conditions and are at risk of exacerbation of their illness. Examples may include community interventions or programs around a built environment.

- Develop innovative research designs to determine which FCSM interventions are most efficient to include variability across developmental life stages and who will benefit most. Examples of innovative designs may include using a multiphase optimization strategy (MOST) when applied to self- management studies.  This design leads to identification of a likely best intervention that can be evaluated at optimal levels, through an iterative process. Another example may be using a Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART) or pragmatic design that would facilitate high-quality data that can be used to construct adaptive interventions. Methodological designs such as SMART and MOST could be adapted to family-centered self-management research prevention and management programs; since these designs are practical, innovative, and hold promise for producing more effective interventions.

- Incorporate novel technologies for individual and family members to facilitate FSCM such as: monitoring symptom status, promoting health behavioral modifications and accessing/imparting health information.

- Determine effective methods for dissemination of FSCM interventions into practice.

- Develop outcome measures (short and long term) to assess effectiveness of FSCM interventions.

The R21 mechanism is intended to encourage new exploratory and developmental research projects: assessment of the feasibility of a novel area of investigation or a new experimental system that has the potential to enhance health-related research or inclussion of the unique and innovative use of an existing methodology to explore a new scientific area. These studies may involve considerable risk but may lead to a breakthrough in a particular area, or to the development of novel techniques, agents, methodologies, models, or applications that could have a major impact on a field of biomedical, behavioral, or clinical research. An R21 grant application need not have extensive background material or preliminary information.

Funding scheme: The combined budget for direct costs for a project of maximum duration of 2 years may not exceed $275,000. No more than $200,000 in direct costs may be requested in any single year.

Deadlines:

i. Official opening date: May 16, 2014

ii. VHIR's internal deadline: June 06, 2014

iii. Official deadline: June 16, 2014

More information: HERE