NIDA ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPLEMENTS: TESTING MECHANISMS OF ACTION FOR 
BEHAVIORAL THERAPIES FOR SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS

RELEASE DATE:  October 28, 2003

NOTICE:  NOT-DA-04-002

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
 (http://www.nida.nih.gov)

APPLICATION RECEIPT DATE:  January 23, 2004

PURPOSE

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) announces the availability 
of funds for administrative supplements to support the addition or 
expansion of tests of mechanisms of action in NIDA-funded studies of 
behavioral treatments for substance use disorders (SUDs). This 
supplement program reflects NIDA’s ongoing commitment to the 
comprehensive support of clinically-relevant behavioral treatment 
research, as well as the recommendation of a scientific panel convened 
in 2003 to help set priorities for such research at NIDA. This panel 
agreed that major advances have been made in behavioral treatments for 
drug abuse, and that the knowledge of the causal mechanisms of those 
treatments could advance the field even further.    

Supplements are intended to make maximum use of data being collected in 
drug abuse treatment populations in order to understand better the 
casual mechanisms of treatment. Supplements may be requested to include 
(or expand on already-included) measures of therapy process or 
potential mediators; to fund the audiotaping or videotaping of therapy 
sessions or assessment activities; to rate or code therapy session or 
assessment data; and/or to develop and test process measures or coding 
systems targeting hypothesized therapeutic mechanisms of action. Strong 
applications will test theory-based mechanisms of action, and will link 
these mechanisms to clinically meaningful outcomes, including within-
session outcomes and overall treatment outcomes.  Applications may 
propose to test the mechanisms of action of a particular behavioral 
treatment, or to test hypotheses about the common change mechanisms or 
processes across several behavioral treatments. Applications may 
address any treatment population, including adults, adolescents, 
couples, families, and groups. 

ELIGIBILITY

Supplements may be added to NIDA Research Project (R01) grants. Grants 
eligible for supplementation must have at least 1 year remaining, and 
the work proposed in the supplement must be completed by the end-date 
of the parent grant. Supplemental projects must be within the general 
scope of the parent grant. Questions about whether a project is within 
the scope of the parent grant should be addressed to the designated 
Program contact.

HOW TO APPLY

Supplement requests should be sent directly to NIDA’s Grants Management 
Office (see address below).  Requests should be in the form of a cover 
page (using the PHS 398 form), a letter, and a budget justification, 
each countersigned by the Principal Investigator of the parent grant 
and the authorized business official at the PI’s institution. The 
following sections should be included in the request letter, conforming 
to a 5-page limit:

1.  A brief description of the parent project on which the supplemental 
project is based;
2.  A discussion of the mechanism(s) of action to be studied in the 
supplemental project;
3.  A description of the proposed supplemental project, including 
methodology, measures, statistical analyses, etc.;
4.  A brief description of the qualifications of the research team.  

Also, applicants should provide a budget justification that details the 
budget items requested, including Facilities and Administrative costs. 
The budget justification is not included in the 5-page limit of the 
request letter.

REVIEW CRITERIA

Applications will be reviewed administratively, and it is expected 
that, for those receiving awards, a resulting Supplemental Notice of 
Grant Award will be issued within four months of the receipt deadline. 
All funding decisions are final and are not subject to appeal. 
Applications will be evaluated based on the strength of the rationale 
for the hypothesized mechanisms under study, the ability of the 
proposed supplemental project to test the mechanisms of interest, and 
the expertise of the research team proposing to conduct the 
supplemental study. 

BUDGET INFORMATION  

NIDA will commit $1.5 million in total costs to fund applications for 
supplements submitted in response to this Notice. The maximum request 
for direct costs is $75,000. Supplements are one-time awards and will 
not be renewed. Any Facilities and Administrative (indirect) Costs also 
should be specified in the budget request.  

Awards pursuant to this Notice are contingent upon the availability of 
funds and the receipt of a sufficient number of applications of high 
scientific merit.

Receipt date:              January 23, 2004       
Earliest Award date:       May 30, 2004 

INQUIRIES

Direct inquiries regarding the program to:

Dr. Melissa W. Racioppo
Behavioral Treatment Development Branch
National Institute on Drug Abuse
6001 Executive Blvd. NSC Room 4230
Bethesda, MD 20892 (USPS)
Rockville, MD 20852  (FedEx and other couriers)
Tel: (301) 443-2261
Fax: (301) 443-6814
Email: [email protected]

Direct inquiries regarding fiscal matters to:

Dr. Gary Fleming
Grants Management Branch 
National Institute on Drug Abuse/NIH/DHHS
6101 Executive Boulevard
Suite 242, MSC 8403
Bethesda, MD 20892 (USPS)
Rockville, MD 20852 (express/courier service)
Tel:  (301) 443-6710
Fax:  301-594-6849
Email: [email protected]

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