Advancing Research to Promote the Health and Well-Being of People with Disabilities

NCCIH is interested in innovative, rigorous, whole-person health research using complementary and integrative health (CIH) approaches that promote health, reduce stress and anxiety, strengthen resilience and emotional well-being, and prevent or treat chronic pain associated with disability. Studies addressing these priorities may: (1) examine whole-person, multisystem mechanisms across biological, behavioral, psychological, social, and environmental domains and across the lifespan; (2) develop and test CIH interventions tailored to the needs of people with disabilities; and (3) develop and validate technologies (e.g., sensors, wearable devices, telehealth, and AI tools) to clarify mechanisms and optimize integrated interventions. CIH approaches may include, but are not limited to, natural products, dietary strategies, massage, chiropractic manipulation, hypnosis, art therapies, meditation, yoga, tai chi, and other mind and body practices.

NCI seeks to understand how cancer affects people with disabilities across the cancer control continuum. Specifically, how do cancer, care delivery, and their interactions affect cancer outcomes? Priority areas include but are not limited to:

• Population-level studies of cancer risk factors, outcomes, and care delivery among people with disabilities
• Interventions to improve access to recommended cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship care
• Studies on how biological, behavioral, psychological, and environmental factors interact to shape cancer risk, health outcomes, and cancer care delivery
• Management of cancer-related sequelae in people with disabilities
• Integration of disability health data elements into cancer registries and datasets
• Interventions that improve health of caregivers of cancer survivors with disabilities
• Telehealth approaches to improve access to cancer survivorship services for people with disabilities

NEI supports research that addresses the health and well-being of people with visual impairment. Areas of interest include but are not limited to:

• Adaptive and rehabilitative approaches – Development of novel and innovative strategies to reduce disabling effects of visual impairment and improve quality of life.
• Outcome measures – Creation and validation of standardized, reproducible, and quantifiable outcome measures of real-world visual function and ability to perform daily living tasks.
• Access to care – Identification of barriers that limit people with visual impairments from obtaining healthcare as well as the development of strategies to improve access to and delivery of services

NICHD seeks applications relevant to NICHD’s priority populations, including infants, children, adolescents, and young adults, pregnant and post-partum and nursing women, individuals of reproductive age, and individuals with intellectual, developmental, or physical disabilities. Research that aims to enhance the health, productivity, independence, and quality of life of people with disabilities is encouraged. Applicants are encouraged to contact an NICHD program official prior to submission.

Areas of interest for NIDA include:

• Bidirectional relationship between substance use and disability, including substance-related causes (e.g., overdose-related hypoxic brain injury, neuropathy) and disability-related risk factors for substance use (e.g., chronic pain, social isolation)
• Effects of prenatal/perinatal substance exposure on disability development in children and related service needs
• Development and testing of substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery interventions accessible to people with physical, sensory, intellectual/developmental, and psychiatric disabilities
• Non-opioid pain management approaches tailored to people with disabilities and chronic pain, to reduce opioid-related substance use disorder (SUD) risk
• Overdose survivorship as a pathway to disability, including functional outcomes and rehabilitation needs after non-fatal overdose
• Intersection of aging, long-term substance use, and disability

NIDCD supports disability health research across the mission areas of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language. Relevant research topics include, but are not limited to, research teams partnering with people with disabilities in:

• Designing, testing, disseminating, and implementing standardized outcome measures of sensory/communication disorders that are quantifiable, objective, and correlate with meaningful changes in function
• Developing, assessing, disseminating, and implementing interventions that reduce the disabling effects of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language impairments
• Integrating the views of people with disabilities in the creation of augmentative and alternative communication to improve usability for all users
• Developing health promotion and injury prevention programs in hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech, and language tailored to the heterogeneous needs of people with disabilities

NIDCR is interested in innovative projects that seek fundamental knowledge about dental, oral, and craniofacial (DOC) health and disease and/or apply foundational concepts and principles into projects that investigate prevention, early detection, and treatment in individuals and communities across the lifespan. Given that DOC conditions and health exist within complex biological, psychological, and social systems, NIDCR is also interested in meritorious applications that include whole person health as integral to DOC health and conditions.

NIEHS is interested in:

• Precision environmental health studies of how environmental exposures impact the health and well-being of people with disabilities that can identify modifiable and tailored intervention targets
• Longitudinal exposomics studies to understand the contribution of environmental exposures across the lifespan that can shape the health of individuals with disabilities
• Research that engages with communities and individuals living with disabilities to address environmental health related concerns that is responsive to the needs of individuals with different types of disabilities and support needs

Environmental exposures of interest include, air pollutants, pesticides, trace elements, nanomaterials and microplastics, endocrine disrupting chemicals, contaminants of emerging concern, and environmental exposures related to extreme weather or disasters.

NIMH encourages person-centered research incorporating lived experience and coproduction of knowledge, where possible, to advance mental health and well-being among people with disabilities (PWD). Areas of interest include:

• Studies of how bio-behavioral pathways affect stress, cognition, functioning, and mental health in PWD
• Development of tools, accommodations, care-access strategies, and financing that improve mental health outcomes for PWD
• Intervention and services research to develop, test, implement, and scale accessible interventions and service delivery models that improve access, quality, coordination, and mental health outcomes, including technology-enabled approaches
• Studies of the whole-person health of people with mental illnesses
• Access to high quality mental healthcare for PWD

Studies that meaningfully engage PWD as research partners across the research continuum, including through deployment focused and end user informed strategies, are also encouraged.

NINDS strongly encourages research designs that actively partner with individuals with disabilities throughout the entire research lifecycle. Areas of interest include:

• Research to improve neurological health outcomes in people living with disabilities
• Research to Identify and address multilevel barriers to optimal neurological health for people living with disabilities
• Solution-oriented, person-centric, and community-engaged research to mitigate neurological health disparities in people living with disabilities

OAR aims to advance interdisciplinary research to better understand, prevent, and address disability, disability-related health disparities, and comorbidities among people with and affected by HIV, ultimately improving their health, functioning, and quality of life across the lifespan.

ODP is particularly interested in projects testing multi-level or multi-sectoral preventive interventions, including multi-site or cluster randomized clinical trials, tailored to the needs of people with disabilities.

ODSS is interested in advancing data science projects that use advance data science techniques such as integration and analysis of multimodal data to explore and develop evidence-based technologies and practical solutions that can improve the lives of individuals with disabilities by creating evidence-based tools and strategies that address real-world challenges. 

These initiatives would aim to improve health outcomes and quality of life for people with disabilities.

ORWH is interested in innovative, rigorous, and person-centered research that promotes the health and well-being of women with disabilities across the life course. 

 ORWH interests include:

• Research to clarify how biological, behavioral, contextual, and environmental factors interact to influence the health of women with disabilities and identify opportunities for effective interventions
• Research to develop, evaluate, disseminate, and implement interventions, including new and existing technologies, that improve care and optimize health outcomes for women with disabilities
• Development and evaluation of evidence-based approaches for the prevention, detection, treatment, and management of disease, injury, and chronic conditions that address the health needs of women with disabilities across the life course
• Training and career development opportunities that promote accessible participation and career advancement in the women's health research workforce