Related Announcements

PAR-22-093, Research on Current Topics in Alzheimer's Disease and Its Related Dementias (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)

PAR-22-094, Research on Current Topics in Alzheimer's Disease and Its Related Dementias (R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

Issued by

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

Purpose

This Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) highlights priority areas of dementia care partner/caregiver research other than intervention development. Applications focused on care of persons living with dementia and the systems that provide care may cite NOT-AG-21-046. Applications focused on the paid dementia care workforce may cite NOT-AG-21-049. PLEASE NOTE: Applications proposing clinical trials will not be considered a high priority for this NOSI. Studies that focus on AD/ADRD behavioral intervention research are encouraged to explore whether PAR-21-307, Dementia Care and Caregiver Support intervention Research (R01 – Clinical Trial Required) or PAR-21-308, Pragmatic Trials for Dementia Care and Caregiver Support (R61/R33 – Clinical Trial Required) would be more appropriate.

This NOSI solicits high-priority Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD) care partner/caregiver research areas as set forth by the National Institute on Aging’s Division of Behavioral and Social Research. Priority areas are guided by the AD/ADRD research implementation milestones and are based on expert discussions from the NIH 2020 Dementia Care Summit and recommendations from the NASEM Decadal Survey of Behavioral and Social Science Research on AD/ADRD.

Alzheimer’s disease directly affects more than 6 million Americans, most of them age 65 and older. The number of persons living with AD/ADRD is expected to increase significantly, given projected growth in the aging population, unless this disease can be effectively treated or prevented. The extensive care needs of individuals with AD/ADRD are highly variable and care typically involves great demands on spouses, family members (of origin or choice), and other care partners/caregivers. Care partners/caregivers may experience adverse health consequences (e.g., disrupted sleep, anxiety, depression, and compromised immune function) and economic hardship as a result of lost work and care expenditures. The challenges of caregiving may lead to institutional (e.g., nursing home) placement for persons with AD/ADRD instead of community-based and in-home care. Families that either partially or fully rely on unpaid support for care face significant out-of-pocket expenses. Access to high quality paid services and support, the level of care partner/caregiver engagement, and the quality of interactions with health care service providers can affect the health and well-being of both the care partner(s)/caregiver(s) and the person living with AD/ADRD.

This NOSI encourages behavioral and social research on care partners/caregivers for individuals with AD/ADRD. Care and care partner/caregiver support research can include multiple settings such as the home, community, or any formal care or clinical setting and address the individual, family, dyad, group, community, or health systems level. Applicants should specify the disease stage(s) and the population and setting/context under investigation.

Research areas of particular interest include the following:

• Studies that identify factors driving care partner/caregiver burden and patient outcomes
• Population- and community-based research on the scope and impact of AD/ADRD caregiving
• Approaches to improve characterization of unpaid care partners/caregivers and the burden of caregiving across the full spectrum of the disease
• Research addressing the unique challenges related to the provision of advanced AD/ADRD care, including research on factors driving disparities in access to high quality health care for both care partners/caregivers and persons living with dementia

Of particular interest are studies that examine these issues across diverse sub-populations, especially among historically disadvantaged populations, such as socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and sexual and gender minoritized populations, and geographic sub-populations. NIA encourages population-based research, observational research, and Stage 0 mechanistic research that can inform the development of intervention programs or best practice recommendations for AD/ADRD care.

High-priority topics in this area of research include, but are not limited to, the following:

• How interpersonal dynamics within families or couples and caregiving quality impact health and well-being outcomes for care partners/caregivers and persons living with AD/ADRD
• Constraints on and consequences associated with the use of paid alternatives to unpaid caregiving
• Characterization of the social, behavioral, psychological, economic, and health consequences of caregiving on care partners/caregivers and persons living with AD/ADRD and identification of the causes of health disparities in priority populations, as described in the NIA Health Disparities Research Framework
• Improved assessment of caregiving processes and their impact on families and individuals
• Characterization of effective triadic interactions among clinicians, patients, and care partners/caregivers
• Risk, protective, and resilience factors related to elder mistreatment
• Development and testing of technology to enable aging in place, engage persons with AD/ADRD and their care partners/caregivers, and to reduce hospitalization, emergency room visits, and admissions to long-term care facilities
• The demography of AD/ADRD caregiving

Application and Submission Information

This notice applies to due dates on or after March 11, 2022 and subsequent receipt dates through November 13, 2024. 

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

• PAR-22-093, Research on Current Topics in Alzheimer's Disease and Its Related Dementias (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)
• PAR-22-094,  Research on Current Topics in Alzheimer's Disease and Its Related Dementias (R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

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-AG-21-047” (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

Melissa S. Gerald, Ph.D.
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Phone: 301-496-3136
Email: [email protected]