Winter 2016 Request for Applications (RFA): Pilot/feasibility studies in complexity and self-management of chronic disease.

Timeline: One page Letters of Intent (LoI) are due March 28, 2016. Individuals will be selected to submit full proposals; due date for the full proposals (by invitation only) is May 9, 2016. One-to-two page abstracts must be emailed to Carol Kent by 5:00 pm on March 28, 2016, to be considered.

Request for applications: Pilot/feasibility studies in complexity and self-management of chronic disease. One-to-two page letters of intent (LoIs) should follow this outline:

• Research problem and aims
• Research Methods: Sample, Research Design, Variables and Measures. Data Analysis Plan
• A statement of how this research relates to self-management and complexity.
• A statement of relevance to self-management and complexity

Submission: LoIs must be emailed to Carol Kent (carokent@umich.edu) by 5:00 pm on March 28, 2016, to be considered. Within the outline above, the pilot/feasibility study applications must address:

• effects of self-management interventions
• the complex underlying mechanisms of self-management interventions, or
• self-management for people with multiple complex comorbid conditions.

Proposals may be focused at the individual, family, population, or systems level. Ineligible topics according to NINR include mental health outcomes and studies to be implemented at non-US sites. Studies must consider inclusion of a limited set of common data effects as applicable:

• Patient Activation Measure (PAM). Note: there is a cost to use this scale. (Hibbard JH, Stockard J, Mahoney ER, Tusler M. Development of the Patient Activation Measure (PAM): conceptualizing and measuring activation in patients and consumers. Health Serv Res. 2004 Aug; 39(4 Pt 1):1005-26. PMID: 15230939.)
• Index of Self-regulation. (Fleury J. The index of self-regulation: development and psychometric analysis. J Nurs Meas. 1998 Summer;6(1):3-17. PMID: 9769608.)
• Stanford Self-efficacy for Managing Chronic Disease 6-item Scale (Lorig KR, Sobel DS, Ritter PL, Laurent D, Hobbs M. Effect of a self-management program on patients with chronic disease. Eff Clin Pract. 2001 Nov-Dec;4(6):256-62. PMID: 11769298.)
• NIH PROMIS Global Health Scale, Quality of Life 10-question Scale (Hays RD, Bjorner JB, Revicki DA, Spritzer KL, Cella D. Development of physical and mental health summary scores from the patient-reported outcomes measurement information system (PROMIS) global items. Qual Life Res. 2009 Sep;18(7):873-80. doi: 10.1007/s11136-009-9496-9. Epub 2009 Jun 19. PMID: 19543809.)

Full proposals: LOIs will be quickly reviewed by the selection committee and some submitters will be informed that they have been selected to move on to the full proposal stage. The due date for full proposals will be May 9, 2016.

Full proposals will be limited to 5 pages and must include specific aims; a research plan with significance, innovation and approach; a detail budget. The total budget will be $25,000 over 2 years. A current biographical sketch of the principal investigator is also required. In addition, investigators must request specific services of the Center. All proposals will be reviewed using NIH criteria and scoring. If selected for funding, enrollment tables and a full data and safety monitoring plan (DSMP) must be added and the proposal is then sent to NINR for approval. The funding is therefore contingent on NINR approval and stipulations.

Eligibility: Principal investigators must be nurse scientists holding RN licensure. In addition, proposals must have sole PI’s, multiple PI initiatives are not acceptable due to the scope of the pilot work. The competition is open to post-doctoral fellows and all level professors. Post-doctoral fellows and assistant professors are eligible for funding as the principal investigator if they have no prior R level or equivalent grant funding (R-01, R-29, R-15, or R-03). Pilot/feasibility studies must be interdisciplinary with co-investigators from at least one other discipline.

For more information about the pilot/feasibility studies contact Carol Kent or Janet Larson.