NOT-HL-23-120: Notice of Special Interest: Leveraging Existing and Accessible Datasets for Implementation Research Strategies and Testing

Notice of Special Interest: Leveraging Existing and Accessible Datasets for Implementation Research Strategies and Testing - LEAD FIRST

Notice Number:

NOT-HL-23-120

Key Dates

Release Date:

November 15, 2023

First Available Due Date:

February 05, 2024

Expiration Date:

January 08, 2027

Related Announcements

May 10, 2022 - Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R01 Clinical Trial Optional). See NOFO PAR-22-105.

Issued by

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

Purpose

Purpose:

The goal of this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to encourage research that maximizes the utility of local-level community datasets by surfacing community insights to inform D&I research which can lead to actionable and sustainable change in communities. This NOSI promotes the use of existing and accessible datasets to inform community-engaged dissemination and implementation (D&I) research on heart, lung, blood and sleep conditions (HLBS) to advance health equity. The NOSI encourages applications for D&I research that use existing community-level datasets as well as community insights to:

Hone in on HLBS conditions that are of high priority for the community, and
Hypothesize barriers and facilitators that could impact the uptake & sustainability of evidence-based interventions (EBIs) for these HLBS conditions, and/or
Select, develop and test D&I strategies based on community context.

Background:

This NOSI is inspired by lessons learned through recent NIH community-engaged research efforts such as CEAL, RADx UP and ComPASS as well as the NHLBI workshop on "Advancing the science of community-engaged health disparities research". In addition, the National Academy of Medicine’s conceptual model, “Achieving Health Equity and Systems Transformation through Meaningful Community Engagemen”" informs this NOSI. A key insight from these efforts is that the many existing and accessible datasets which capture data on the local/county/zip code or census tract-level provide researchers with an opportunity (1) to leverage these existing local-level datasets in the design and development of D&I research projects and (2) to meaningfully engage communities in the research process by providing community context and insights on the data that can lead to local level change to reduce health disparities.

Leverage existing community-level datasets: Local community-level data is continuously being collected or estimated to address federal, state and local priorities, as well as through community-engaged research efforts such as RADx UP and CEAL. A recent NIH workshop on the Science of Precision Prevention to Reduce Disparities in Cardiovascular Health also highlighted the need to maximize the use of available data by aggregating and analyzing diverse datasets in order to adapt interventions and develop effective implementation strategies. Analyzing existing datasets at the county or community-level can help elucidate local-level community health needs and priorities, surface barriers and facilitators of actions to adopt EBIs, provide a multidimensional understanding of individual and community health challenges and resiliency factors, to ultimately inform EBI selection, adaptation and design of D&I strategies, leading to local-level actions that reduce disparities in HLBS conditions or related factors.

Meaningfully engage communities in the research process through community insights on data: The success and sustainability of EBI implementation are highly related to the alignment with and deep understanding of the needs of a community as defined by the community members themselves. Even though data is continuously being collected on communities, efforts to bring in community partners to help understand and interpret that data in the context of the community’s lived reality are still lacking. Community insights on existing local level data can help paint a clearer picture of the barriers and facilitators to the uptake of EBIs for HLBS conditions in these communities, which in turn can inform the selection, development, and testing of implementation strategies. Involving community partners in interpreting and validating data from existing datasets at the community level also helps grow community capacity for research while enabling communities to enhance current data collection efforts by validating the cultural, linguistic and social appropriateness of measures.

This NOSI targets the PAR-22-105 Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) which supports D&I research projects that can request funding for up to 5 years. It supports pure implementation research and hybrid approaches (especially hybrid Type 2 and Type 3 effectiveness/implementation clinical trial designs).

All applications to this NOSI are expected to demonstrate meaningful engagement with community partners. Investigators proposing implementation projects will be expected to engage community partners at the onset and throughout the project, especially in data interpretation and validation, so that community partners can successfully partner, advise, and provide feedback on implementation strategy development and testing. All projects are encouraged to leverage existing community resources and expand community partnerships (e.g., tribal governments and agencies, academic, private, safety-net health systems, other health systems, grassroots organizations, public health departments, community and faith-based organizations, and schools or childcare settings) to complete study aims. Although not required, researchers can explore partnerships with CEAL teams and CEAL community partners who are working in scientific areas of high priority to NHLBI. Applications are expected to include community partners as co-investigators, and study budgets are expected to include funds for the community partners to be fully engaged and successfully participate in research design and implementation. Applicants can consider the services and toolkits offered by the Community Engagement Consultative Resource (CEACR) on best practices with regard to community engagement and inclusive participation. In addition, researchers are encouraged to design projects that include innovative approaches to make existing datasets more accessible and easy-to-use by community partners, including partnering with local public health departments and agencies who have the requisite skills to access and use existing datasets. This NOSI encourages applications focused on communities experiencing health disparities, including (but not limited to) racial and ethnic minorities, people with lower socioeconomic status, underserved rural communities, gender and sexual minorities, and people with disabilities.

Selected Research Examples

The following research examples are meant to be illustrative of the type of research encouraged by this NOSI and does not constitute an exhaustive list. Also included are some examples of existing data sources. Please note that these example data sources are for illustrative purposes only and should not be taken as an endorsement for certain resources over others. It is ultimately up to the investigative team to determine the most appropriate data source for the research question(s).

Address county or community-level burden and risk factors of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). Advance community linkages to evidence-based care, develop and test implementation strategies for EBI scale-up through meaningful engagement with local/county/state health departments, community-based organizations, community-based SCD organizations and other community partners by leveraging existing datasets on sickle cell disease.
Address community-level burden and risk factors of Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) to reduce related health disparities and to develop and test implementation strategies for EBI scale up through meaningful engagement with local/county/state health departments, community-based organizations, and other community partners by leveraging existing datasets on CVD.
Address community-level burden, environmental, and other risk factors of Chronic Lung Diseases to reduce health disparities through meaningful community engagement to test implementation strategies for EBI scale up.
Address community-level burden and risk factors of Sleep Disorders to reduce health disparities through meaningful community engagement to test implementation strategies for EBI scale-up.
Develop and test implementation strategies for EBI scale-up that address community-level social determinants of health (SDoH) and environmental factors which mitigate the impact of climate change on the burden of heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders by leveraging existing datasets.
Leverage existing datasets to develop and test implementation strategies for EBI scale-up that address the impact of community-level SDoH on disparities in heart, lung, blood and sleep health of mothers and neonates.
Develop and test implementation strategies for EBI scale-up using existing data sources to address community-level factors such as housing environment that impact disparities in heart, lung, blood and sleep health of children and adolescents in rural areas.

Examples of existing datasets: Please note that the following list is not exhaustive and is for illustrative purposes only. Applicants should propose using the data sources which are most appropriate for the research question(s). Applicants are responsible for assessing the accessibility, recency and quality of the data sources included in their applications.

The following types of projects are not considered priorities under this NOSI. Applications proposing such projects will not proceed to review.

Research that is exclusively an efficacy study or an effectiveness study
Projects that do not incorporate meaningful community engagement as described above

Application and Submission Information

This notice applies to due dates on or after February 5, 2024 and subsequent receipt dates through January 7, 2027. This NOSI expires on January 8, 2027; thus no applications will be accepted on or after January 8, 2027.

Submit applications for this initiative using the following notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) or any reissues of this announcement through the expiration date of this notice.

PAR-22-105 NIH Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and the notice of funding opportunity used for submission must be followed, with the following additions:

For funding consideration, applicants must include “NOT-HL-23-120” (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4B will not be considered for this initiative.

Applications nonresponsive to terms of this NOSI will not be considered for the NOSI initiative.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to the contacts in Section VII of the listed notice of funding opportunity with the following additions/substitutions:

Scientific/Research Contact(s)

Maliha Ilias, PhD
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Telephone: 301-451-9921
Email: maliha.ilias@nih.gov

Peer Review Contact(s)

Examine your eRA Commons account for review assignment and contact information (information appears two weeks after the submission due date).

Financial/Grants Management Contact(s)

Shaheed Michael Ziyout
National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Telephone: 301-827-8152
Email: shaheed.ziyout@nih.gov