Key Dates

Related Announcements

• January 26, 2023 - Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grant (Parent T32). See NOFO PA-23-048
• January 11, 2023 - Formative and Pilot Intervention Research to Optimize HIV Prevention and Care Continuum Outcomes (R34 Clinical Trial Optional). SEE NOFO PAR-23-060
• January 11, 2023 - Innovations to Optimize HIV Prevention and Care Continuum Outcomes (R21 Clinical Trial Optional). See NOFO PAR-23-061
• January 11, 2023 - Innovations to Optimize HIV Prevention and Care Continuum Outcomes (R01 Clinical Trial Optional). See NOFO PAR-23-062
• January 10, 2022 - Research Enhancement Award Program (REAP) for Health Professional Schools and Graduate Schools (R15 Clinical Trial Required). See NOFO PAR-21-357
• January 10, 2022 - Research Enhancement Award Program (REAP) for Health Professional Schools and Graduate Schools (R15 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PAR-22-060
• September 08, 2021 - Emerging Global Leader Award (K43 Independent Clinical Trial Required). See NOFO PAR-21-251
• September 08, 2021 - Emerging Global Leader Award (K43 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PAR-21-252
• May 19, 2021 - Academic Research Enhancement Award for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions (R15 Clinical Trial Required). See NOFO PAR-21-154
• May 19, 2021 - Academic Research Enhancement Award for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions (R15 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PAR-21-155
• May 7, 2021 - NIMH Research Education Mentoring Program for HIV/AIDS Researchers (R25 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PAR-21-228
• October 28, 2020 - Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (Parent F31-Diversity). See NOFO PA-21-052
• October 26, 2020 - Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (Parent F32). See NOFO PA-21-048
• October 26, 2020 - Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Fellowship for Students at Institutions Without NIH-Funded Institutional Predoctoral Dual-Degree Training Programs (Parent F30). See NOFO PA-21-050
• October 21, 2020 - Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (Parent F31). See NOFO PA-21-051
• May 12, 2020 - Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (Parent K08 Independent Clinical Trial Required). See NOFO PA-20-202
• May 12, 2020 - Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (Parent K08 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PA-20-203
• May 12, 2020 - Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (Parent K23 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PA-20-205
• May 12, 2020 - Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (Parent K23 Independent Clinical Trial Required). See NOFO PA-20-206
• May 7, 2020 - NIH Small Research Grant Program (Parent R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PA-20-200
• May 6, 2020 - Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (Parent K01-Independent Clinical Trial Required). See NOFO PA-20-176
• May 6, 2020 - Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (Parent K24 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PA-20-186
• May 6, 2020 - Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (Parent K01--Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PA-20-190
• May 6, 2020 - Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (Parent K24 Independent Clinical Trial Required). See NOFO PA-20-193
• May 5, 2020 - NIH Pathway to Independence Award (Parent K99/R00 Independent Clinical Trial Required). See NOFO PA-20-187
• May 5, 2020 - NIH Pathway to Independence Award (Parent K99/R00 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed) See NOFO PA-20-188
• March 30, 2020 - Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Mental Health Comorbidities in HIV Prevention and Treatment (Reissue). See NOSI NOT-MH-20-013

Issued by

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Purpose

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is issuing this Notice to highlight interest in receiving grant applications focused on understanding and addressing the impact of mental health comorbidities, including mental health disorders, violence, and trauma, on HIV prevention and treatment outcomes. This NOSI is a reissue of NOT-MH-20-013.

In the U.S. and globally, mental disorders are prevalent among populations placed at risk for HIV acquisition, as well as people living with HIV (PLHIV). Exposure to violent or traumatic events is frequently comorbid with mental health disorders, and also impacts the HIV prevention and treatment continua. Mental disorders and violence/trauma are associated with behaviors that result in increased vulnerability and risk for HIV acquisition and transmission, and they may be a barrier to HIV testing, use of HIV prevention tools such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and HIV care and treatment.

There are numerous evidence-based interventions to treat mental disorders; however, there are gaps in our understanding of how to best address mental health comorbidities in the context of HIV prevention and treatment. While it is clear that evidence-based mental health interventions improve mental health for people living with HIV, the effect of mental health interventions on HIV prevention and treatment outcomes is mixed, and mental health treatment may need to be combined with effective HIV prevention and care interventions to maximally improve mental health and HIV outcomes. Some populations, such as adolescents, emerging adults, transgender women and men, and perinatal cisgender women, have unique factors that impact their mental health but are understudied in terms of addressing mental health comorbidities to improve HIV prevention and treatment outcomes. Mental health comorbidities besides depression are less commonly addressed in HIV research, despite the high prevalence of disorders such as anxiety and post-traumatic stress in people placed at risk for or living with HIV. Similarly, understanding the mechanisms through which violence impacts HIV prevention and treatment outcomes is limited as well. There are few empirically based interventions to address violence that have been shown to improve HIV prevention and treatment outcomes.

There is a need to deliver efficacious mental health and violence/trauma-related treatments in scalable and cost-efficient ways. Deployment of effective interventions depends upon a number of factors, including routine screening to identify individuals with mental disorders. Staffing and systemic changes in busy clinical settings may be needed for effective implementation of mental health interventions, and addressing mental health-related stigma and discrimination may be needed as well. In low-resource settings, where there are few mental health providers, task-shifting has been used to deliver mental health interventions, but there are gaps in our understanding of the best models of training and supervision for the personnel delivering the task-shifted intervention. Other strategies, including mHealth approaches, differentiated care approaches, and integration of mental health treatment into HIV prevention and treatment services may help in the implementation, scale up, and sustainment of mental health interventions. Targeted implementation science can help to answer these key questions and produce generalizable knowledge regarding feasible and scalable approaches.

Areas of Research Interest

Areas of programmatic interest for behavioral, intervention, and implementation science include, but are not limited to:

• Studies to adapt and test interventions designed to improve mental health and HIV prevention or treatment outcomes, along with examination of potential mechanisms of change.
• Studies to adapt and test interventions designed to address violence or trauma exposure, including exposure at different phases across the lifespan, to improve HIV prevention or treatment outcomes, along with examination of potential mechanisms of change.
• Studies designed to address mental health and/or trauma-related factors that adversely impact affected populations, (e.g., adolescents, emerging adults, transgender women and men, perinatal cisgender women, or mobile communities)  that have unique factors impacting their mental health, and are understudied in HIV research.
• Studies using MOST designs to identify the optimal combination of components for interventions designed to address both mental health and HIV prevention and/or treatment outcomes.
• Studies using SMART designs to identify which mental health interventions should be offered to those who do not respond to an initial mental health intervention, and to identify optimal time points or triggers for initiating the new or modified intervention.
• Studies to evaluate differentiated models of mental health or trauma-related care for people placed at risk or living with HIV who experience more mild mental disorders or trauma symptoms versus those with more severe disorders or symptoms.
• Studies to test approaches to integrating screening for mental health symptoms or trauma/violence into HIV prevention or care, and link to or provide appropriate levels of mental health/trauma-related care and HIV prevention or treatment.
• Studies to develop innovative models of integrated services to improve HIV and mental health or trauma-related outcomes, along with examination of change mechanisms.
• Studies to test decision support tools to help individuals, couples, or providers make informed choices and utilize evidenced-based mental health/trauma and HIV prevention or treatment services.
• Studies to examine the impact of changes in mental and behavioral health services policy/legislation that affect delivery of mental health or trauma-related care and HIV integration.
• Comparative effectiveness research to determine the relative effects of interventions for mental disorders or violence/trauma on HIV-related prevention and treatment outcomes.
• Cost-effectiveness studies to assess economic benefits of interventions addressing mental health or trauma/violence to improve HIV prevention and care outcomes.
• Studies designed to enhance understanding and identify modifiable targets of provider, clinic and systems-level factors that may impact capacity to implement evidence-based screening for mental disorders or trauma and provision of appropriate mental health/trauma services among persons placed at risk for HIV acquisition or people living with HIV.

It is strongly recommended that applicants review the NIMH Division of AIDS Research current Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFO) (available on our website at https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/organization/dar/aids-related-funding-opportunity-announcements-foas), and consult with a Program Officer before application submission.

Requirements

Given the importance of incorporating input throughout the entire research process, the inclusion and input of a community advisory board in the conceptualization, design, conduct, analysis and publication is a minimum requirement for all submissions to this Notice.

Application and Submission Information

This notice applies to due dates on or after September 7, 2023 and subsequent receipt dates through September 8, 2026.

Submit applications for this initiative using one of the following Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) or any reissues of these announcement through the expiration date of this notice.

PAR-23-062, Innovations to Optimize HIV Prevention and Care Continuum Outcomes (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)

PAR-23-061, Innovations to Optimize HIV Prevention and Care Continuum Outcomes (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)

PAR-23-060, Formative and Pilot Intervention Research to Optimize HIV Prevention and Care Continuum Outcomes (R34 Clinical Trial Optional)

PA-20-190, Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (Parent K01--Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PA-20-176, Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (Parent K01-Independent Clinical Trial Required)

PA-20-202, Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (Parent K08 Independent Clinical Trial Required)

PA-20-203, Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (Parent K08 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PA-20-206, Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (Parent K23 Independent Clinical Trial Required)

PA-20-205, Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (Parent K23 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PA-20-200, NIH Small Research Grant Program (Parent R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PA-20-187, NIH Pathway to Independence Award (Parent K99/R00 Independent Clinical Trial Required)

PA-20-188, NIH Pathway to Independence Award (Parent K99/R00 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PA-20-193, Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (Parent K24 Independent Clinical Trial Required)

PA-20-186, Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented Research (Parent K24 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PAR-21-251, Emerging Global Leader Award (K43 Independent Clinical Trial Required)

PAR-21-252, Emerging Global Leader Award (K43 Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PAR-21-228, NIMH Research Education Mentoring Program for HIV/AIDS Researchers (R25 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PAR-21-155, Academic Research Enhancement Award for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions (R15 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PAR-21-154, Academic Research Enhancement Award for Undergraduate-Focused Institutions (R15 Clinical Trial Required)

PAR-22-060, Research Enhancement Award Program (REAP) for Health Professional Schools and Graduate Schools (R15 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

PAR-21-357, Research Enhancement Award Program (REAP) for Health Professional Schools and Graduate Schools (R15 Clinical Trial Required)

PA-21-050, Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Fellowship for Students at Institutions Without NIH-Funded Institutional Predoctoral Dual-Degree Training Programs (Parent F30)

PA-21-051, Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship (Parent F31)

PA-21-052, Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (Parent F31-Diversity)

PA-21-048, Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (Parent F32)

PA-23-048, Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grant (Parent T32)

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

For funding consideration, applicants must include “NOT-MH-23-265” (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)

Teri Senn, Ph.D.
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Telephone: 301-605-4146
Email: teri.senn@nih.gov

Financial/Grants Management Contact(s)

Rita Sisco
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Telephone: 301-443-2805
Email: siscor@mail.nih.gov