Key Dates

Related Announcements

August 01, 2023: Secondary Analysis and Integration of Existing Data to Elucidate Cancer Risk and Related Outcomes (R21 Clinical Trials Not Allowed). See NOFO PAR-23-255
May 09, 2022: NIDCR Small Research Grants for Oral Health Data Analysis and Statistical Methodology Development (R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PAR-22-160 
Nay 09, 2022: Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PAR-22-106 
November 25, 2020: NIDCR Small Grant Program for New Investigators (R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PAR-21-084 
May 07, 2020: NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PA-20-195 

Issued by

National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)

Purpose

The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) is issuing this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) to encourage innovative research on interpersonal communication as a fundamental element to dental, oral, and craniofacial health and wellbeing. For the purposes of this notice, research on interpersonal communication illuminates how individuals transmit and attend to words, images, symbols, plus chronemics, haptics, kinesics, and paralanguage to convey their states of being; their knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs, and to induce responses, usually acknowledgment, suasion, or physical behaviors, from one another.  Such communication may occur in clinical care settings and beyond. Though interpersonal communication frequently occurs between individuals within close physical proximity to one another, interpersonal communication also can occur through multiple mediums including and not limited to, writing via letters, email, text messages; remote audio-video teleconferencing, and social media platforms.

Enhanced insight on interpersonal communication as causal and/or constitutive social processes has the potential to make substantial advances that can inform future prevention, early detection, management, and/or treatment strategies that improve overall health and wellbeing for individuals, groups, and larger communities over the lifecourse. NIDCR’s interest in novel approaches to interpersonal communication research builds on extant NIH interests on insights into basic mechanisms that inform human behavior change and maintenance across health-related contexts (https://commonfund.nih.gov/behaviorchange) and on innovative approaches to research on communication to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability (https://commonfund.nih.gov/healthcommresearch).

The NIDCR recognizes that NIH-funded research projects have collected extensive data to fulfill their respective project's specific aims. Data derived from studies funded by NIDCR, NIH, and additional sources can provide unique, cost-effective opportunities to investigate additional research questions or improve analytical approaches related to interpersonal communication. Data sources such as existing audio and/or video data may be remarkably appropriate to investigate interpersonal communication questions related to clinical, functional, behavioral, social, or implementation research. Analyses may integrate multiple existing data sources including, and not limited to, dental and medical records, health tracking devices, media that transmit text and other symbols; pharmacy and insurance information and/or records; and other data. Analytical approaches proposed should reflect the data to be used and recognize NIDCR’s interest in novel approaches to interpersonal communication (as operationalized above). Such analytical approaches may include, and not be limited to, qualitative, quantitative, and/or mixed methods (https://obssr.od.nih.gov/research-resources/mixed-methods-research). 

Specific Areas of Interest

Research areas of interest include, and are not limited to, the following:

• Elucidating constructs of dental and oral health and wellbeing as communicated among parents and children, families, and larger communities.
  • How constructs of dental and oral health and wellbeing relate to evidence-based recommendations (e.g., NIH-funded research, recommendations from professional dental, medical, and nursing associations).
  • How these constructs relate to ethnic, family, or folk traditions, and/or other sources.
  • How these constructs inform children’s initiation and maintenance of oral hygiene behaviors, perceptions of dental care professionals and offices, and regular attendance of dental visits.
  • How oral-dental constructs, interpersonal communication, and oral hygiene-related behaviors are conveyed among multi-generational members over the lifecourse.
  • How these constructs reflect opinions on dental and oral health conveyed through parasocial interpersonal communication.
• Accounting for ways care seekers use to convey their health, illness, or pain issues to care providers, across settings, and commensurate with seekers’ health and illness knowledge (e.g., “health literacy”); language proficiency; and/or chronic condition(s) that have an impact on the creation, transmission, attendance to, and/or processing of messages (e.g., Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); Autism Spectrum Disorder [ASD]; early-onset dementias).
  • What influences advanced access, or lack thereof, to a patient’s mental and/or physical health records has on provider-patient communication and the provision of care during the appointment. 
    • https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/assistive-devices-people-hearing-voice-speech-or-language-disorders
    • https://sites.ed.gov/idea/idea-files/at-guidance/
    • https://www.congress.gov/bill/108th-congress/house-bill/4278
  • What influences patient caregivers, clinical or lay navigators have on interpersonal communication between patient and provider.
• How dental and oral health providers are able to elicit appropriate responses and/or behaviors within a specific care appointment.  
• What influences assistive communication technologies have on the interpersonal communication between patient and provider, e.g., resources and Congressional act:
• How these processes influence the clinical care visit for patient and provider, the resolution of patient’s issue at visit, initiation and maintenance of oral hygiene behaviors, perceptions of dental and oral healthcare professionals and offices, and regular attendance of visits.
• Illuminating the dyadic communicative components between patients and dental providers that correspond to levels of trust or lack thereof—and how these phenomena may relate to patient performance of provider-recommended oral hygiene and management behaviors.
  • How patient and provider chronemics, haptics, kinesics, and paralanguage complement, reinforce, and/or contradict the words and other symbols shared during the communication transaction.
  • How ethnic, gender, home-used language, race, or additional similarities or differences influence the communication in this dyad and subsequent behaviors.
  • How patients and providers address patients’ anxiety or fear of dental care practices or professionals and the influences of such communicative transactions.
• Investigating how commonplace, controversial, or delicate topics influence the interpersonal transmission and attention to words, images, symbols, and paralanguage—and subsequent effects on patient-provider relationship (e.g., trust) and patients’ oral/dental health-related behaviors.
  • Example topics include, and are not limited to, alcohol and other substance use screenings, flossing practices, fluoride use, interpersonal violence inquiries, toothbrush choices, promotion of vaccines that prevent cancer, screening for HIV, HPV, and other issues that can affect dental and oral health.
  • How patient and provider chronemics, haptics, kinesics, and paralanguage complement, reinforce, and/or contradict the words and other symbols shared during the communication transaction.
  • How information or personal viewpoints from key opinion leaders (e, g., information experts, lay vloggers or bloggers, celebrities with expertise unrelated to dentistry, medicine, psychiatry, and other health related specialties) influence transmission and attention during interpersonal communication, and the influence on patient stated opinion on the topic, adherence/consent to the treatment discussed, and/or oral/dental health-related behaviors.
• Studying how patients’ explanation of symptoms related to disorders across the NIDCR mission are associated with providers’ timely and correct diagnoses and subsequent treatments, condition maintenance, and follow-on oral/dental health-related behaviors.
  • Disorders within the NIDCR mission include, and are not limited to, dental caries, periodontal diseases, Sjogren's syndrome, temporomandibular joint, and muscle disorders (TMJDs).
  • Additional disorders and/or chronic conditions across the NIH mission that can have negative influences on oral and dental health include, and are not limited to, arthritis, cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia, diabetes mellitus, inflammation, kidney disease, obesity, and xerostomia.
• Explaining the communicative components between obstetric, gynecologic, and additional care providers and parents of newborns with developmental craniofacial disorders (e.g., cleft lip and palate, craniofacial microsomia, craniosynostosis) that correspond to levels of trust or lack thereof, and how these phenomena may relate to parental wellbeing and ability to access timely specialty care and to perform management behaviors for newborns.
• Describing how people born with craniofacial disorders navigate care, therapies, and treatments for their conditions with providers during transitions over the lifecourse (e.g., pediatric to adolescent; adolescent to adult).
  • How interpersonal communication facilitates successful transitions.
  • How interpersonal communication may illuminate how less successful or unsuccessful transitions occur.
• Providing insight that accounts for the establishment of trust and/or mutual facts derived through interpersonal communication among investigators, research staff, community leaders, members of target populations, and consented research participants in community-based participatory (CBPR) research projects. 

Application and Submission Information

This notice applies to due dates on or after September 7 2024, and subsequent receipt dates through September 8, 2027. 

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

• PA-20-195: NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Parent R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• PAR-21-084: NIDCR Small Grant Program for New Investigators (R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) 
• PAR-22-106: Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health (R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• PAR-22-160: NIDCR Small Research Grants for Oral Health Data Analysis and Statistical Methodology Development (R03 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• PAR-23-255: Secondary Analysis and Integration of Existing Data to Elucidate Cancer Risk and Related Outcomes (R21 Clinical Trials Not Allowed) 

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-DE-24-027” (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 Scientific/Research, Peer Review, and Financial/Grants Management contacts in Section VII of the listed notice of funding opportunity.

Scientific/Research Contact(s)

William Elwood, PhD
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research 
Telephone: 301-402-0116 
Email: william.elwood@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)

Gabriel Hidalgo, MBA
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
Telephone: 301-827-4630 
Email: gabriel.hidalgo@nih.gov