Pilot Effectivness Trials for Post-Acute Interventions and Services to Optimize Longer-term Outcomes (R34) | PAR 17 271

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 17 271

The Pilot Effectiveness Trials for Post-Acute Interventions and Services to Optimize Longer-term Outcomes (R34) opportunity (PAR-17-271) is a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant program focused on improving what happens after a person has completed an initial, acute phase of mental health treatment. The core idea is that many people make progress during acute treatment, but then struggle with lingering symptoms, functional impairment, relapse risk, or trouble staying engaged with appropriate services. This funding supports early-stage, real-world oriented effectiveness research that tests whether a post-acute intervention or service approach can feasibly and safely help people maintain and extend gains over time, while fitting the individual’s stage of illness and minimizing unnecessary burden.

The projects NIMH is looking for are pilot effectiveness trials of therapeutic interventions and/or service delivery interventions designed specifically for post-acute management. “Post-acute” here implies the period after initial stabilization or an initial evidence-based treatment episode, when the clinical goals often shift from crisis reduction to consolidation, maintenance, and longer-term recovery. The interventions should be intentionally matched to stage of illness in two ways: first by focus (for example, consolidating treatment gains, addressing residual symptoms, improving functioning, preventing relapse, promoting adherence, and guiding appropriate ongoing service use), and second by intensity or burden (meaning the amount of time, effort, cost, and complexity required from participants, families, providers, and systems should be appropriate and not excessive for the problem being targeted).

Because this is an R34 pilot mechanism, the emphasis is not on delivering a definitive, large-scale answer about effectiveness. Instead, NIMH wants applicants to run a well-structured pilot trial that can answer practical “can this work in the real world?” questions and produce the kind of preliminary data needed before moving to a larger effectiveness trial such as a comparative effectiveness study or a practical trial. In concrete terms, the pilot trial is expected to evaluate feasibility (can you recruit, enroll, retain, and deliver the intervention as intended in the target setting), tolerability (can participants reasonably stick with it), acceptability (do participants and providers find it appropriate and worthwhile), and safety (including monitoring for adverse events and unintended harms). It should also generate early signals of potential effectiveness on clinically meaningful outcomes related to post-acute recovery and functioning.

A key feature NIMH highlights is the need to test whether the intervention actually engages the intended target(s) or mechanism(s) presumed to drive improvement. In other words, the project should not only measure outcomes, but also assess whether the intervention is influencing the mediators or processes it claims to influence (for example, adherence behaviors, coping skills, service engagement, symptom self-management, or other mechanisms linked to relapse prevention and sustained functioning). This mechanism-focused approach is meant to reduce the risk of scaling up an intervention that appears promising but does not reliably engage the underlying processes needed to produce durable benefits.

The funding opportunity falls under the NIH discretionary grant category and is classified as a health-related funding activity (CFDA 93.242). The listed award ceiling is $225,000, and the original closing date shown in the source information is December 6, 2017, indicating this particular posting is an archived or historical cycle rather than an open, current deadline. Even so, the description is useful as a model of what NIMH has sought in this area: carefully designed pilot effectiveness trials that bridge the gap between controlled efficacy research and larger-scale, real-world effectiveness testing aimed at optimizing longer-term outcomes following acute treatment.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S. public and private organizations, reflecting NIMH’s interest in testing post-acute approaches in diverse real-world contexts. Eligible applicants include state, county, city, township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; and a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit entities (including small businesses). The announcement also explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant groups such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), tribal governments that are not federally recognized, faith-based and community-based organizations, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, eligible federal agencies, and even non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities.

Overall, this grant opportunity is designed for teams that already have a plausible post-acute intervention or service strategy and are ready to test it in a pilot effectiveness framework. The expected deliverable is a strong package of feasibility, safety, acceptability, mechanism engagement, and preliminary outcome data that can justify and shape a subsequent, larger trial intended to definitively determine effectiveness in improving longer-term post-acute mental health outcomes.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Pilot Effectivness Trials for Post-Acute Interventions and Services to Optimize Longer-term Outcomes (R34)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.242.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-05-04.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-12-06. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $225,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for PAR 17 271

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