Notice Number: NOT-CA-17-055

Key Dates
Release Date: May 4, 2017

Issued by
National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Purpose

The purpose of this Notice is to inform potential applicants that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is participating in PA-17-226, "Advancing the Science of Geriatric Palliative Care (R21)."

Part 1. Overview Information

Components of Participating Organizations

National Institute on Aging (NIA)
National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s)

93.866, 93.361, 93.307, 93.393

Part 2. Section I. Funding Opportunity Description

The following text is inserted at the end of the subsection entitled "Scope" and just before the start of the subsection entitled "Additional Guidance."

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

The NCI is interested in studies that focus on advancing the science of geriatric palliative care in the context of cancer patients, cancer populations, and other persons affected by cancer; examples of studies of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Analyze and compare biological, social, and psychological factors that place elderly patients at risk for poor outcomes (decreased survival, serious adverse events) during and following cancer treatment.
• Examine the trajectory of physical and functional abilities during cancer treatment.
• Develop and refine interventions that improve older patients tolerance of and adherence to cancer therapies.
• Examine physician and patient factors that contribute to treatment decision-making, e.g., enrolling in cancer clinical trials, implementing dose reductions of cancer therapies.
• Develop, test, and evaluate interventions that aim to deliver timely, effective, patient-centered palliative care to older adults diagnosed with cancer.
• Develop, test, and evaluate cancer care delivery models for older adults with cancer, including those that allow for the provision of palliation simultaneously with active treatment, including clinical trial participation.
• Identify and address the palliative care needs of special cancer patient populations who may be medically underserved by palliative care, including older adults with comorbid conditions and individuals being treated for less common cancers and hematologic malignancies.
• Expand knowledge of the efficacy of interventions known to be effective at earlier places along the cancer continuum to manage common cancer symptoms at the end of life.
• Develop and test tools, multilevel interventions, care delivery models, and health IT features that facilitate the communication of advanced care planning documents among primary, specialty, and acute care providers, and the development of shared understanding of the care plan and interdependencies involved among older adults, family members, caregivers, physicians, healthcare practitioners and healthcare organizations who care for older adults with cancer.
• Test the feasibility, acceptability, reach, and effectiveness of telehealth and eHealth palliative care services for older adults diagnosed with cancer, particularly those in medically underserved communities.
• Develop interventions to build and strengthen cancer palliative care capacity among healthcare providers across the spectrum of healthcare delivery settings.
• Develop feasible and effective approaches to collect patient-generated health data, including patient-reported outcomes (PROs) from older adults with advanced cancers, including patients with limited health literacy and technology access, and literacy.
• Develop feasible and effective approaches to evaluate the quality of palliative care provided to older adults with cancer and comorbid conditions.
• Develop and test methods in data collection and data analysis to address missing outcomes data in palliative care intervention studies of older adults with cancer (e.g., missing due to attrition, patient condition precluding completion of PRO measures), including use of proxy outcome evaluators and clinician-rating scales.
• Examine prognostic understanding and awareness among older adult cancer patients (from the initiation of palliative care to end-of-life), as well as how patients prognostic understanding relates to family members and caregivers prognostic understanding, and how patient and family beliefs relate to oncologist-provided prognoses.
• Develop, test, and evaluate intervention approaches implemented across different healthcare systems and community settings that encourage palliative care interventions based on older cancer patient’s health status, not age.
• Develop, test, and evaluate intervention approaches (from initiation of palliative care to end-of-life) implemented across different healthcare systems and community settings that are based on older cancer patient’s health status, not age.

Part 2. Section VII. Agency Contacts

The following contacts have been added

Scientific/Research Contact(s)

Ann M. O Mara, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N.
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Telephone: 240-276-7050
Email: [email protected]

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Ann M. O Mara, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N.
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Telephone: 240-276-7050
Email: [email protected]