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European Commission - HORIZON

“Artistic intelligence” : harnessing the power of the arts to address complex challenges, enhance soft skills and boost innovation and competitiveness. Call: Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society 2026. Programme: HORIZON. Keywords: Arts, Art history, Creativity management, Design innovation, Experimentally-driven research and innovation, ICT & art, Life long learning, Mental health, Open innovation, Social innovation, Social sciences, interdisciplinary, Visual arts, performing arts, design. Open call from the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

NCCIH - National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

Cardiorespiratory conditions such as the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), congestive heart failure, COVID pneumonia, and sepsis are among the most common causes of mortality and morbidity. They are also notable for high rates of persistent psychological distress symptoms including depression, anxiety, and PTSD that worsen quality of life and outcomes of the underlying conditions. Yet there are few effective strategies able to overcome barriers of limited access to mental health care. To address this gap, we developed Lift, a completely automated and self-directed mindfulness training intervention, from the ground up with patient input. First, Lift reduced depression symptoms and improved quality of life compared to an education program control in a multicenter pilot RCT (R34 AT008819) among those recently hospitalized with serious cardiorespiratory conditions. Next, a 247-person multicenter 2x2x2 factorial optimization trial (U01 AT00974) compared 8 intervention versions differing by program introduction (app vs. therapist), dose (standard vs. high), and approach to in-the-moment symptom management (app vs. therapist). This trial demonstrated that while all versions had a strong effect on depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms, the high dose, app-only version was optimized for effect, adherence, and retention. Given these promising findings, a formal test of the optimized Lift mobile mindfulness intervention’s efficacy is needed. Therefore, we propose a 4-site multicenter RCT with 6-month follow up among 450 cardiorespiratory failure survivors with elevated post-discharge symptoms of psychological distress. Our specific aims will: (1) Test Lift vs. an education program control delivered by similar platforms on symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and quality of life; (2a) Determine patient-level characteristics associated with a greater treatment response among a priori-defined subgroups using a heterogeneity of treatment effects analysis; (2b) Explore novel adherence metrics and outcomes; and (3) Ensure off-the-shelf intervention readiness with an exploratory mixed-methods hybrid type 1 implementation framework analysis that integrates quantitative trial implementation data with semi-structured trial participant interviews. Innovative and unique elements include a fully automated mobile health delivery system that personalizes content in response to changes in symptom trajectories, a focus on enrolling a population representative of the US, and strong community engagement with formalized roles. This project addresses national research priorities and could advance the field with a personalizable yet population-scalable therapy that has the potential to broadly improve mental health access.

NINDS - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

SUMMARY: The 2026 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Sleep Regulation and Function, themed “Sleep for the Whole Organism,” will mark the seventh installment of this highly successful series. Over the course of the last decade, sleep research has experienced remarkable growth across a variety of disciplines, spanning molecular biology, systems neuroscience, and mental health. Advances in state-of-the-art technologies have enabled significant progress in our understanding of the neurocircuitry underlying non-REM and REM sleep, wakefulness, the roles of neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, genetic contributions to sleep regulation, and the impact of sleep loss on transcriptional and translational dynamics. The 2026 GRC will build on this strong foundation while expanding into new frontiers. The program will explore sleep as a whole-organism behavior, integrating both brain and body perspectives. In addition to core sessions on sleep regulatory mechanisms and emerging findings from non- mammalian species, the conference will highlight recent findings on sleep’s roles in cognition, consciousness, interoception, and waste clearance from the brain. A session will examine the interplay between sleep and post- infectious disease states, reflecting growing interest in how immune challenges—including long-term consequences of viral infections—impact sleep regulation and homeostasis. The program will further emphasize bidirectional brain-body communication, with discussions on the bi-directional interaction between sleep and peripheral physiology, metabolic state, and systemic signals. Finally, the growing interface between artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) and sleep science will be showcased, illustrating how advanced computational tools are transforming data analysis, predictive modeling, and mechanistic discovery in the field. This GRC will comprise 50 invited speakers and discussion leaders, poster sessions, in the main meeting. It will be preceded by the GRS, which will provide opportunities specifically for graduate students and post-docs. The GRC and GRS will bring together scientists of all career stages in an interactive and safe environment.

NCCIH - National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

This proposal aims to support the International Congress on Integrative Medicine and Health (ICIMH) annual meeting from 2026-2030, sponsored by the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine & Health (“Academic Consortium”), which currently represents over 80 academic health centers and health systems in the U.S. and around the World. The overall goal of the Congress is to provide the premier venue for bringing together rigorous scientific research on a broad range of topics including integrative approaches to cancer, mental health, pain, metabolic health, aging, pediatrics, women’s health, oral health, and substance use disorders. It has provided a key venue for grantees of the NCCIH and other NIH centers and institutes to network and present their scientific work and has been a significant catalyst for growth of the science of the integrative medicine field since the inception of the Congress. This grant is specifically aimed at increasing attendance at the conference of students, trainees, new investigators, and others with financial barriers to attendance and supporting the publication of early investigators abstracts. Most of the funding will be directed at reducing the student registration rate and providing travel scholarships. Travel scholarships will be awarded based on submission of an abstract with strong reviewer ratings, financial need, and bringing trainees from different health disciplines to the conference. The 2026 ICIMH is to be held in Salt Lake City, UT from April 20- 23, 2026; in Minneapolis, MN from April 12-15, 2027; and the 2028, 2029 and 2030 ICIMH will be determined closer to the date. ICIMH will showcase original scientific research involving integrative medicine and whole person health, using keynote and plenary presentations, oral and poster abstracts, symposia, and workshops. Basic science, clinical, and health service researchers will present original research and moderate panel presentations selected through a de-identified peer-review process, using a pool of over 60 expert reviewers. Leaders in whole health and integrative medicine are invited to provide keynote addresses and moderate concurrent research presentations. The oversight of conference planning is a collaboration between an Organizing and Scientific Review committee, Academic Consortium Board of Directors, student advisory group, and NCCIH. The 18-member Organizing Committee, representing diverse leaders in research, education, and clinical communities, has key responsibility for planning the meeting content, including selecting the plenary speakers and meeting symposia. This proposal aims to ensure that the Congress continues to provide a rigorous scientific venue for grantees of the NCCIH and other NIH institutes engaged in research related to whole person health to network and present their scientific work and to advance the meeting’s role as an important catalyst for growth of the science of the integrative medicine field.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Crisis Center Follow-Up Programs

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis

The purpose of the program is to expand efforts among Lifeline crisis centers to support individuals post-contact to provide continued support and linkages to decrease suicide, deaths by overdose and future crisis events by: (1) ensuring the systematic follow-up of suicidal persons who contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline; (2) providing enhanced coordination of crisis stabilization, crisis respite, mobile crisis outreach (MCO) response services and other services on the crisis continuum of care; (3) reducing unnecessary police, fire and emergency medical services engagement to allow first responders to focus on public safety; and (4) improving connections to ongoing support and recovery for high-risk populations.

NIDA - National Institute on Drug Abuse

PROJECT SUMMARY Prenatal cannabis use (PCU) is a growing public health concern, linked to fetal harms and risks to the pregnant woman, including depression and cannabis use disorder. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advise against PCU, yet its prevalence continues to rise. Despite some understanding of the risks associated with PCU, pregnant women often choose to use cannabis to offset physical and mental health symptoms. The desire to manage adverse symptoms is often accompanied by inconsistent and/or limited unsolicited information offered by healthcare providers on PCU harms or alternatives, and pregnant women are hesitant to disclose PCU to providers even if asked. In this proposed pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT), we will incorporate feedback from experts and pregnant women who use cannabis to tailor our team’s existing, evidence- based, brief, mobile phone-based intervention to target PCU. The intervention will: (1) present accurate information in a motivational enhancement format to reduce resistance around health messaging, correct misperceptions, and provide instruction around discerning credible and accurate information from other sources in the future; and (2) offer harm reduction and cognitive behavioral skills proven to be efficacious in reducing cannabis use in other groups (e.g., use of protective behavioral strategies and distress tolerance skills) to teach alternate strategies to manage physical and mental health symptoms during pregnancy. In an initial phase of the project, we will beta-test our screening, recruitment, and intervention procedures with 15 pregnant women in the first trimester who use cannabis. We will conduct interviews to evaluate feasibility and acceptability of the intervention and refine content based on feedback. We will then pilot test the intervention in a second phase by randomly assigning first trimester pregnant women who use cannabis to the intervention condition (N = 50) or a brief information-only control condition (i.e., treatment as usual; N = 50) to be delivered in the first trimester, with a booster in the third trimester. Follow-up will occur during subsequent trimesters and 3-months post-pregnancy. This first-ever stand-alone, self-directed mobile intervention for PCU has potential for large-scale reduction of cannabis use among an at-risk population. This mobile phone-based intervention can reach pregnant women who may have otherwise received no intervention, or who would have sought information from less credible sources. This and future projects can help identify and address individual-, policy- and system-level barriers to harm reduction services among pregnant women as we develop and test new digital health technologies to deliver novel prevention, treatment, and recovery interventions to a vulnerable population (two NIDA priority areas).

NCI - National Cancer Institute

PROJECT SUMMARY The focus of this extension proposal is on expanding access to voluntary smoke-free homes to formerly homeless residents residing in permanent supportive housing and examining the role of the built environment and commercial determinants of tobacco use on smoke-free home adoption. Permanent supportive housing is subsidized housing with closely linked or on-site medical and/or social services for individuals with a history of chronic homelessness and who are living with disabilities, mental health, and/or substance use disorders. Approximately 50% of people living in permanent supportive housing report current smoking, yet there are no mandated smoke-free policies in permanent supportive housing. In the parent study, we conducted a multi-site, community-based cluster-randomized wait-list controlled trial of our multi-faceted smoke-free home intervention among 400 permanent supportive housing residents residing in 40 permanent supportive housing sites across the San Francisco Bay Area. The multi-faceted intervention, delivered by study staff includes: 1) one-on-one counseling to permanent supportive housing residents who are smokers on how to adopt a smoke- free home, and 2) training for permanent supportive housing staff on how to provide referrals to cessation services. We are in the process of completing efficacy and cost-effectiveness analyses and examining barriers to and facilitators of successful adoption of smoke-free homes from the parent RCT. In the qualitative evaluation of the parent proposal, we used the Consolidated Framework of Implementation Research to understand inner and outer setting factors linked with smoke-free home adoption. The aims of the extension proposal are to expand on these inner and outer setting factors from the Aim 3 analyses in our parent proposal to better understand the role of built environment factors and commercial determinants on smoke-free home adoption using environmental mapping and participatory action research methods. Our specific aims are: 1) Explore how self-reported perceptions of commercial determinants, the built environment, and treatment access shape smoke-free home adoption among smoke-free home RCT participants, 2) Identify commercial determinants of smoke-free home adoption using environmental mapping of tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis retailer density in neighborhoods where PSH are located, 3) Evaluate the influence of built environment factors such as neighborhood safety and walkability, housing quality, and environmental cues to tobacco use on smoke-free home adoption using participatory action research methods. The long-term impact of this work will be to create best practices and action-oriented implementation guidance for housing authorities, non-profit housing providers, and local, state, and federal authorities to increase smoke-free policy implementation and tobacco treatment in subsidized multi-unit housing.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

Summary/Abstract Whether we are fatigued from a teleconference call, eager to read a book, energetic and ready to start our day or tired and preparing for sleep, anxious or happy, in the real world key neurocognitive processes and moods fluctuate over minutes-to-hours. Hunger, circadian rhythms, hormone levels, blood sugar, heart rate, body temperature, all fluctuate at the mesoscopic timescale of minutes-to-hours modulating how we respond to the world. For example, the response of the brain to the odor of fresh cookies just out of the oven is different when one is hungry versus for someone who just ate. These state fluctuations also influence why the same event will trigger pathological symptoms at some times, but not others, in individuals with neurological or psychiatric disorders. Despite the critical importance of interrelated brain, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological fluctuations at the timescale of minutes-to-hours in the real world, nearly everything we know about human brain function mostly comes from highly controlled experiments lasting milliseconds-to-seconds, or longitudinal studies from months-to-years. This has left a critical gap in scientific knowledge regarding the dynamics of brain, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological interactions at the timescale of minutes-to-hours in real world settings. To fill this gap, we will develop a platform for measuring and analyzing brain activity, cognitive states, behavior, and physiology leveraging the unique opportunity to record multiday neural activity during natural behavior in the real world in individuals undergoing the surgical treatment for epilepsy. We will integrate cutting- edge wearable and artificial intelligence technology for rich behavioral and physiological monitoring along with neural network and dynamical systems learning approaches. We will rigorously quality control and validate this platform to ensure the highest quality data. We will also perform a bioethics study to develop a paradigm that addresses the unique privacy concerns that arise in using ubiquitous measurements for real-world neuroscience in this participant population. In the R33 phase of this project, we will then use this platform to examine how brain, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological interrelationships fluctuate with circadian rhythms and relate to brain network excitability. Given the ubiquity of circadian rhythms across the brain and body, their influence on cognition and behavior, and their relationship with many neurological and psychiatric disorders, the R33 study has broad implications for both our understanding of the brain and for potential treatment strategies for many disorders. For example, knowing when brain networks are in high or low excitability states can suggest windows of opportunity for maximally beneficial clinical interventions. The development of this integrated brain, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological measurement and analysis platform in the R61 phase of this project will open up new neuroscientific and translational research opportunities. The studies on circadian rhythms and brain network excitability in the R33 phase will lead to new understanding of these important neurobiological processes and provides insights with broad clinical and translational implications.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

Modified Project Summary/Abstract Section Santiago Arconada Alvarez, MS is an emerging leader in translational research software at Emory University who serves as the Associate Director of the AppHatchery initiative within the Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance (Georgia CTSA) under the direction of Dr. Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD. The core of his productive and successful career as a Research Software Engineer is in the development of digital health platforms to support research projects. He has developed over 11 digital health solutions publicly available in domain areas such as: 1) user-center designed software for patient and provider education in pediatric cardiovascular health (HerHeart), symptom based decision-making in the perinatal period (MAMALOVE), new onset pediatric Type 1 diabetes (TypeU), and pediatric tonsillectomy surgeries (Ready for Tonsillectomy); 2) public health information dissemination with a digital resource for Tuberculosis guidelines (Georgia TB Reference Guide) sponsored by the Georgia State Department of Public Health; 3) improving health access by breaking down language barriers for a broad range of individuals with an easily accessible and quick mobile interpretation tool; 4) modernizing traditional qualitative research methodologies with a first-of-its-kind mobile app (Fabla) to conduct speech-based Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) research, increasing adoption and study compliance from participants and streamlining and enriching data collection for researchers. This Research Software Engineer (RSE) award would provide 3 years of funding to deepen his software expertise and enable him to evolve into a leader in translational research software. Specifically, he will focus on 1) enhancing data security and ensuring greater transparency in existing projects to promote reproducible research; 2) integrating advanced analytics to support Principal Investigators’ primary research goals; 3) making his platforms and methods accessible to researchers at other institutions and within the broader research software community; and 4) building capacity in the RSE community by mentoring junior engineers, taking on leadership roles in collaborative initiatives, and championing user-centered design in research. Growing into these areas will cement him as a leader to contribute significantly to NIMH’s mission of transforming our understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through innovative, scalable, and widely available software platforms, ultimately improving mental health outcomes and advancing research.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT We form attachments at many levels of social interactions, including with spouses, family members, friends, and other members of the community. The neurobiological mechanisms that control the formation and maintenance of social attachment remain poorly understood. This is in part because traditional genetic model systems such as mice, fish, flies, and worms do not exhibit social attachment as adults, precluding the use of powerful molecular genetic approaches to dissect mechanisms underlying this behavior. Prairie voles are small rodents that form an enduring social bond (referred to as pair bonds) between adults, and they also display other related affiliative behaviors. Pharmacologic studies in prairie voles have implicated vasopressin and oxytocin signaling through their receptors OXTR and AVPR1A in the control of social attachment, providing a potential entry-point into the neural circuits that govern this behavior. However, in our published and unpublished work, we find that neither OXTR nor AVPR1A are genetically required for pair bonding. To realize our goal to understand how the brain encodes pair bonding, we propose a genetic approach that is independent of OXTR or AVPR1A to gain a new entry-point into the neural circuits underlying this behavior. In brief, we will use the FosTRAP approach first developed in mice to achieve our goal. This approach relies on using FOS to genetically tag neurons that are activated during a specific behavior, and in mice, this has revolutionized identification and functional characterization of neural circuits underlying diverse behaviors and physiology in health and disease. For the current project, we will generate genetically modified voles that have a small molecule-inducible Cre recombinase inserted into the prairie vole Fos locus and a Cre-dependent fluorescent reporter inserted into the prairie vole Rosa locus (Specific Aim 1); in Specific Aim 2, we will validate the use of these knock-in vole strains and identify neuronal populations that are activated during pair bonding. As with the FosTRAP strategy in mice, voles bearing the modified Fos and Rosa genes will enable genetic tagging of neurons activated during a specific behavior, pair bonding in our case for this project. Taken together, our studies will enable identification and functional studies of neural pathways that govern social attachment behavior in prairie voles. Health relatedness: Social attachments are thought to be critical for our mental health and personal and professional success. Failure to form or maintain social attachments is often an early indicator of a serious mental illness such as autism spectrum disorder, depression, and schizophrenia. Our proposal seeks to develop genetic means to access the neural circuits underlying social attachment in prairie voles, which have long been considered the premier mammalian model for these complex social interactions. Our projection may therefore provide a useful model system to study social behaviors relevant to human health and mental illnesses.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

Project Summary/Abstract Trauma-related dissociation is a common yet disabling experience characterized by a sense of detachment from the body during or following a traumatic event. Approximately 4% of community members and 20% of people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) report dissociation, meaning more than 13 million Americans experience this type of dissociation in their lifetime. Given that dissociation is characterized by detachment from bodily experiences and that many body-oriented symptoms occur alongside it (i.e., somatic symptoms, intentional harm to the body), it is plausible that interoception, the perception of internal bodily states, is regularly disrupted among these individuals. Indeed, recent theoretical models propose that greater trauma-related dissociation may be associated with poorer interoceptive skills. This is important because poor interoceptive skills are associated with negative mental health outcomes, like posttraumatic stress disorder and dissociative disorders. Unfortunately, there are several barriers that have prevented the progression of research on this topic. For example, past work has failed to capture the multifaceted nature of interoception and been methodologically limited (e.g., used only self-reports; not assessed in naturalistic settings). It is important to understand the interplay between trauma-related dissociation and interoception because no evidence-based treatments exist for dissociation, making this study a critical first step in identifying potential treatment targets. The proposed study will overcome previous limitations by combining self-report and physiological assessments both in laboratory and ambulatory settings to explore the ways in which trauma-related dissociation impacts interoceptive accuracy (i.e., ability to precisely and accurately monitor bodily sensations) and interoceptive attention (i.e., attentiveness to bodily sensations). Adult women between the ages of 18 and 59 with a history of childhood sexual trauma (N = 80), the population most likely to develop trauma-related dissociation, will be recruited from the community to explore whether interoceptive accuracy and attention are worsened by momentary trauma-related dissociation (Aim 1; within-person effects) and worse among people with higher trait trauma-related dissociation (Aim 2; between-person effects). In the laboratory session, participants will complete an interoceptive accuracy task (i.e., Heartbeat Counting Task) and interoceptive attention measure (i.e., Interoceptive Attention Scale) before and after dissociation is induced (i.e., Mirror Gazing Task). This laboratory assessment will be followed by a week of ambulatory assessment with passive physiological monitoring to understand how trauma-related dissociation impacts interoceptive accuracy and attention in naturalistic settings. This project is relevant to the mission of NIMH to identify how and when to intervene to reduce the burden of mental illness. The proposed project will facilitate critical training opportunities in interoception, ambulatory assessment, psychophysiological assessment, and multilevel modeling through planned coursework, workshops, experiential learning, and mentorship from a collaborative and multidisciplinary training team.

NIMH - National Institute of Mental Health

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is the single strongest prospective predictor of suicidal behavior, yet only one longitudinal study has examined mechanisms that may be facilitating the transition from nonsuicidal to suicidal self-injury. Notably, adolescents may be a particularly high-risk group as both NSSI and suicide behavior often first occur during this developmental period. The onset of NSSI often precedes that of suicidal behavior, making it a key prevention target in adolescents. As 60% of individuals with a history of NSSI do not transition to suicidal behavior, the proposal aims to elucidate which factors predict transition risk among this high-risk subgroup (Aim 1). This proposal also aims to identify the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between NSSI and suicidal behavior, focusing on four candidate mediating processes underlying the NSSI to suicide attempt (SA) transition (intrapersonal distress, social connection, emotion regulation, and self-view) (Aim 2). We will leverage a multi- method approach to assess NSSI severity and candidate mediating factors by employing a traditional longitudinal design combined with burst ambulatory assessments, novel computer vision methodology to obtain an objective clinical assessment of NSSI severity, behavioral tasks, and gold-standard measures. Adolescents aged 13-17 will be followed for a 2-year period to capture the emergence of SAs in the sensitive period following recent NSSI onset. The research team, led by ESI MPIs Taylor Burke and Brooke Ammerman and supported by Co-Is Richard Liu, Ross Jacobucci, and Thomas Serre, brings exceptional proficiency to this project. They possess extensive expertise in adolescent self-injurious thoughts and behaviors, utilizing innovative data collection methodologies, including ecological momentary assessment and computer vision analysis of medical images, as well as the application of sophisticated data analysis strategies. Their combined knowledge also extends to understanding risk relationships among individuals with underrepresented identities and addressing the ethical and privacy concerns unique to high-risk populations. The potential impact of this ESI R01 proposal is significant. Findings will provide valuable information regarding the role and timescale of modifiable risk factors in the nonsuicidal to suicidal self-injury transition, facilitating the development of targeted suicide prevention interventions tailored for this high-risk adolescent population. This proposal is strongly in line with NIMH’s focus on suicide prevention research, as well as NIMH’s Strategic Goal 2 to “examine mental illness trajectories.” With its use of innovative computer vision methodology to objectively assess NSSI severity, this proposal is also in line with Strategy 2.2.B Interest Area 3.

NIH

Background: Veterans experience high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, which are frequently comorbid and result in difficulties with psychosocial functioning substantially greater than either disorder alone. Functioning difficulties in Veterans have not been adequately addressed by most existing psychotherapies for PTSD and depression because they often focus on symptom improvement and are highly resource-intensive, requiring the training and time of skilled providers. To address this gap, mobile health (mHealth) apps can serve as a widely accessible, standalone or adjunctive intervention to target psychosocial functioning among Veterans with comorbid PTSD and depression. This RR&D CDA-2 proposal involves the development of a self-guided mHealth intervention based on Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR), an evidence-based psychotherapy that explicitly targets functioning improvements and also alleviates PTSD and depression symptoms among trauma survivors. As part of the intervention, real-time assessment will be incorporated to support Veterans in monitoring their functioning, symptoms, and potential benefits from STAIR. Aim 1 is to adapt the existing STAIR Coach mobile app to make it optimal for self-guided use and to enhance it with real-time assessment (i.e., ecological momentary assessment of functioning and symptoms and passive sensing of location and communication patterns). A user-centered iterative design process will be used to obtain feedback on the intervention from Veterans with PTSD and depression (N = 15) and VA STAIR providers (N = 5). Aim 2 is to evaluate self-guided STAIR Coach with real-time assessment in a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT), focusing on determining feasibility and acceptability and exploring outcomes of psychosocial functioning, PTSD symptoms, and depression symptoms. Veterans with PTSD and depression (N = 40) will be randomized to self-guided STAIR Coach with real-time assessment (intervention condition) or to real-time assessment only (active control condition) for 12 weeks. Aim 3 is to apply idiographic analysis to each Veteran’s real-time assessment data to inform the timing and personalization of a future just- in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI) based on STAIR. A JITAI embodies a precision medicine approach to deliver the right type of support to the right person at the right time and has the potential to flexibly target the PTSD or depression symptom most linked to functioning for a Veteran. The candidate is applying as a clinical psychologist at the National Center for PTSD Dissemination and Training Division located at VA Palo Alto. Research and training will take place in the rich institutional environment of VA Palo Alto and its academic affiliate Stanford School of Medicine, with the guidance of an accomplished mentorship team comprised of mHealth and STAIR experts. The training goals of the proposal are directly relevant to the specific aims and include gaining expertise in app intervention development, clinical trial methodology, and idiographic quantitative data analysis. Additionally, the candidate will train in overall mHealth innovation and VA professional development skills. The research and training in this CDA-2 will prepare the candidate to achieve her immediate goal of obtaining a VA Merit Review Award that involves building and testing a STAIR JITAI to maximize functioning among Veterans with PTSD and depression. The candidate’s long term goal is to become an mHealth expert in timely and personalized interventions, including JITAIs, for enhancing psychosocial functioning in the everyday lives of Veterans with PTSD and depression. Significance and Innovation: This CDA-2 will address a high priority area of mental health for VA and is consistent with national VA priorities (e.g., Whole Health), with the goal of helping Veterans with PTSD and depression function more fully in their lives, which may in turn decrease suicide risk. It will target the improvement of functioning through cutting-edge mHealth technology and advanced analytic techniques. It may ultimately help to position the VA as a national leader in incorporating innovative technologies into recovery-oriented mental health care.

NICHD - Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Project Summary/Abstract In the US, more than one out of every ten babies are born prematurely (before < 37 weeks of gestation) each year, accounting for 10-11% of live births.1 Globally, an estimated 15 million babies are born preterm each year, which is likely underestimated, given difficulties with tracking in low- and middle-income countries.2 Medical breakthroughs before the turn of the century dramatically increased survival of babies born at earliest stages.3 The field now faces increased prevalence rates of mental health disorders among adult survivors of preterm birth,6,7 which comes at great cost to individuals, families, and society. Annually, the US spends over $26 billion dollars in direct and indirect costs related to preterm birth.8,9 This reality underscores the need for investment in services that can better promote long-term mental health of this growing population. Early parenting interventions are among the most promising and cost-effective solutions to support long term mental health and well-being. Few programs deliver services starting in early infancy shortly after hospital discharge– or use scalable approaches that can engage multiple parents. Efforts that better engage fathers are especially needed. Fathers are severely underserved for their own needs and are underrecognized as critical supporters for mother and infant well-being. Developmental studies indicate that brain dysmaturation in frontal-limbic pathways is a secondary consequence of preterm birth and may contribute to long term sequalae. Programs that show positive effects on both behavioral and neurodevelopmental levels may be essential for supporting lasting change in infants, which motivates hypotheses in our study. Our objective is to test the effectiveness of a web-based, scalable parenting program, Play and Learning Strategies (ePALS), for parents and prematurely born infants, to improve parental responsiveness, promote early childhood mental health, and examine mechanisms of effectiveness through changes in neurodevelopmental pathways. Parents of infants born preterm (between 3-9 months of age, corrected for prematurity) will be randomly assigned to our target intervention, ePALS versus an active control program of the same duration and format. We will use an innovative, multimodal approach to examine behavioral pathways (socio-emotional and emotion regulation) and associated neurodevelopmental substrates, using EEG electroencephalography/event related potentials (EEG/ERPs), structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI, rsfMRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and autonomic nervous system (ANS) recordings. Aim 1 will test whether participation in infant ePALS improves parental responsiveness in the first years of their infants’ life. Aim 2 will test the effects of ePALS on reducing risk for poor emotion regulation based on 2A) behavioral outcomes (parent report and standardized assessments), 2B) neurophysiological processes (EEG, ERP, ANS) and 2C) and frontal-limbic brain pathways (structural, functional, MRI, DTI). Aim 3 will examine mediators and moderators, to understand mechanism of change driving intervention related improvements in parenting and child outcomes.

NCI - National Cancer Institute

Project Summary/Abstract: By 2040, 73% of cancer survivors will be ≥65 years old, with up to 35% of them developing clinically significant depression. Depression is problematic for many reasons, including its potential to interfere with the ability to engage in preventive and follow-up healthcare. National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines strongly recommend the management of depression among cancer survivors. However, older adults are the least likely age group to utilize mental health services, and Hispanic older adults are even less likely, despite being at higher risk for depression. Older adult cancer survivors (OACs; ≥65, post-cancer treatment) also have unique challenges relative to their peers without cancer (e.g., fatigue, cognitive changes, mobility issues, pain, social distancing and isolation). These issues often create additional barriers to benefitting from existing evidence-based depression treatment, which is ineffective for many OACs. Brief Behavioral Activation (BBA) is an evidence-based psychotherapy for healthy adults that has a strong theoretical rationale for use with OACs and the potential to overcome the limitations of conventional psychotherapies in this age group. It is adaptable for a range of functional statuses, and thus may be especially helpful for OACs given their typically faster rate of functional decline. Moreover, in OACs, BBA has the potential to promote cancer survivorship self-efficacy and improve health behaviors. We developed a BBA manual for OACs (BBA-OACs) with cancer-specific psychoeducation and modified worksheets with a focus on cancer survivorship, self-efficacy, and American Cancer Society (ACS)-recommended preventive health behaviors (i.e., healthy weight, exercise, healthy eating, avoiding alcohol and tobacco). In a fully remote (i.e., recruitment, intervention, and assessment) pilot RCT of telehealth BBA-OACs (N=81) we demonstrated its excellent feasibility, acceptability, and initial superiority to an active control, Supportive Psychotherapy, for improving OACs’ depression, anxiety, and coping. While this demonstrates the promise of BBA-OACs for reducing depression in this medically vulnerable group, we need to ensure its efficacy in a fully powered trial with a diverse sample that will have the ability to identify mediators and moderators of change. For this NIH Stage II RCT of telehealth BBA-OACs (N=502) with 4-month follow-up, we will partner with Cancer Support Community to recruit a diverse nationwide sample of English- and Spanish-speaking OACs with three aims: 1) Determine the efficacy of BBA-OACs for improving depressive symptoms; 2) Determine the efficacy of BBA- OACs for improving anxiety, loneliness, coping, and cancer-related health behaviors; 3) Determine the extent to which behavioral activation, general self-efficacy, and cancer-survivorship self-efficacy mediate the relationship between BBA-OACs and depressive symptoms. By expanding viable, evidence-based telehealth treatment options for depression, these results will ultimately improve the quality of life and cancer survivorship trajectories of OACs.

NIA - National Institute on Aging

Project Summary/Abstract Each year, more than three million adults aged 35 and older are admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) in the United States. Most require a surrogate decision-maker (SDM) to make timely, emotionally charged treatment decisions. Often unprepared for this responsibility, SDMs frequently experience significant psychological distress that can impair their ability to make informed, value-congruent decisions. Long-term psychological consequences, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and decision regret, often follow these acute effects. Despite decades of research, few evidence-based and scalable interventions effectively address the SDMs’ emotional needs during ICU stays. This project will evaluate the efficacy and mechanisms of REFRAME, a brief, self-directed, tablet-based intervention grounded in cognitive reappraisal theory. REFRAME is designed to help SDMs recognize, reinterpret, and regulate their emotional responses in real time as they navigate high-stakes decisions. The intervention includes interactive psychoeducation and emotional assessments, guided strategy selection, emotionally relevant ICU scenarios, and structured planning to apply reappraisal techniques to real-world decision-making. In a two-arm, parallel-group randomized controlled trial, 387 SDMs of critically ill patients will be enrolled and randomized to either the REFRAME intervention or an attention-matched informational support (IS) control condition. Participants will complete standardized outcome measures at baseline (T0), 24-48 hours post- intervention (T1), 24-48 hours post-T1 (T2), and 90 days post-baseline (T3). Aim 1 will evaluate the effects of REFRAME on depressive symptoms (primary outcome at T2) and PTSD symptoms and decision regret (secondary outcomes at T3). Aim 2 will examine differences between groups in state emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) at T1. Aim 3 will test whether changes in state emotion regulation mediate the effect of the intervention condition on psychological outcomes. By targeting a core, modifiable mechanism—emotion regulation—this trial aims to enhance psychological resilience, decision-making quality, and overall family-centered outcomes. The study findings will guide the development of scalable, mechanism-focused interventions to alleviate mental health burdens and improve care experiences in critical care and other surrogate decision-making contexts.

NIH

Significance to VA: Many Veterans who served on or after September 11, 2001 (post 9/11) experience impaired psychosocial functioning, due in part to high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). Less than half of post 9/11 Veterans with these conditions seek mental health (MH) treatment, with key barriers being a preference to self-manage and lack of time. Veterans also report difficulty navigating the overwhelming array of resources available. To address a gap for post 9/11 Veterans with unmet MH needs, we propose a self-help intervention to provide skills for healthy self-management as well as curated guidance on recovery support services that address MH and broader whole-person functional challenges. There is ample evidence that self-help interventions improve MH symptoms, possibly with greater impact if clinicians provide support, but their impact on psychosocial functioning is understudied. Resilience Training for Veterans (REST-V) is a self-help intervention tailored for post 9/11 Veterans with MDD and/or PTSD symptoms who are not in psychotherapy. REST-V comprises 2 handouts per week for 6 weeks delivering (a) instruction and cues to use evidence-based self-management coping skills (to promote use of adaptive coping) and (b) information to educate, normalize, and navigate recovery support services (to promote use of MH treatment, Other relevant VHA care such as Whole Health, and Informal resources such as MH apps). Veterans may elect to receive optional support via brief calls or text reminders. Using a stepped care approach with low-cost self-help as the first step, REST-V aims to increase access to evidence-based coping skills and easy-to-understand guidance on recovery support services for Veterans who choose not to access MH treatment. Given high rates of untreated MDD and PTSD among post 9/11 Veterans, this proposal addresses a known gap to support VHA priorities, suicide prevention efforts, and Brain, Behavioral and Mental Health (BBMH) Portfolio priorities for clinical studies to improve functioning and reintegration in Veterans with MH conditions. Innovation & Impact: REST-V is innovative for its dual focus on psychosocial functioning/MH and recovery support services, examining whether self-help improves functioning and resource utilization, and accommodating patient preferences for format of delivery (mail, secure message, text) and support (telephone, text). REST-V aims to increase Veterans’ tools for recovery to reduce functional impairment impacting family, social, work, and other life roles. REST-V is being delivered through Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) in this study but could be used in a variety of VHA care settings. Specific Aims: The specific aims of this clinical trial are to: Evaluate the efficacy of REST-V (vs. Control) at improving 1) psychosocial functional impairment, 2) MH outcomes, and utilization of 3a1) cognitive-behavioral coping skills and 3a2) recovery support services, with use of skills and services being 3b) explored as potential mediators. We hypothesize that REST-V will be more efficacious than Control. Methodology: This randomized controlled trial (RCT) will take place at 2 VHA healthcare systems (Syracuse and Durham). VHA-enrolled post 9/11 Veterans (N=200) who screen positive for MDD and/or PTSD symptoms and functional impairment but are not in psychotherapy will be randomized to the intervention (REST-V) or control (standard printed resource/ treatment information) condition and assessed at baseline, 8, 16, 24, 32, and 40 weeks using validated self-report scales and electronic health record (EHR) data (for VHA care utilization). The primary outcome is psychosocial functional impairment. Secondary MH outcomes are psychological distress, MDD and PTSD symptom severity, and suicidal ideation. Aims 1, 2, and 3a will be tested using generalized linear mixed models with an intent-to-treat analysis. Aim 3b will use exploratory mediation models with non-parametric bootstrapping procedures. Path to Translation/Implementation: If efficacy is confirmed, we will work with our national operations partners and use data collected in this trial to plan a hybrid II or III trial to facilitate implementation into VHA clinical practice.

National Institutes of Health

This NOFO is a call to action in response to the mental health crisis in the United States. We seek applications that will study methods to increase access to evidence-based interventions and services for youth mental health, including those living in rural areas, inner cities, and other under-resourced areas, and youth experiencing housing and food insecurities and out-right homelessness. Applications should address research related to optimizing assessment, intervention and service strategies, overcoming challenges related to the workforce shortage, wait lists for treatment, integration of treatment and preventive interventions into settings where people are most likely to be best identified as needing care (eg: schools, social service, pediatric medicine and justice), and service interventions that address systemic barriers to access and quality of mental health care (structural, policy, organizational, value (cost/financing), management).

National Institutes of Health

This NOFO is a call to action in response to the mental health crisis in the United States. We seek applications that will study methods to increase access to evidence-based interventions and services for youth mental health, including those living in rural areas, inner cities, and other under-resourced areas, and youth experiencing housing and food insecurities and out-right homelessness. Applications should address research related to optimizing assessment, intervention and service strategies, overcoming challenges related to the workforce shortage, wait lists for treatment, integration of treatment and preventive interventions into settings where people are most likely to be best identified as needing care (eg: schools, social service, pediatric medicine and justice), and service interventions that address systemic barriers to access and quality of mental health care (structural, policy, organizational, value (cost/financing), management).

National Institutes of Health

Accelerating Solutions to Improve Access and Quality of Empirically-Supported Practices for Youth Mental Health (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)

NICHD - Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

SUMMARY Relevant to NICHD’s mission is prioritizing research to improve the health of American children and families. Similarly, reducing the prevalence of childhood chronic diseases by understanding and diminishing contributions to disease risk is a goal of the Make American Healthy Again initiative. The proposed conference is unique in that it focuses specifically on the relatively new field of prenatal pediatrics; that is, optimizing fetal well-being through maternal-fetal research and fetal interventions to improve outcomes in the neonatal period and beyond. Our MPI team at the Prenatal Pediatrics Institute (Adre duPlessis, MBChB) and the Developing Brain Institute (Catherine Limperopoulos, PhD, and Katherine L. Wisner, MD, MS) at Children’s National Hospital (CNH) has evolved a progressive model of in utero pediatric care to underscore the importance of pregnancy and the womb as the time and place where childhood chronic disease first takes hold. The fetal environmental milieu has a key role in defining the trajectory of life-long health. Our objective is to concentrate on the potential of prenatal pediatrics as a powerful conceptual framework to guide research to reduce the escalating rates of childhood chronic diseases. Examining the potential dietary, behavioral, medical, and socio- environmental factors associated with childhood chronic disease is crucial to encourage interdisciplinary, evidence-based research to inform interventions, societal change, and policy. This conference was developed with the goal of reducing institutional and research compartmentalization. We plan two days of presentations by speakers representing a broad array of prenatal pediatrics/neonatology and subspecialties, maternal-fetal medicine, perinatal mental health, translational scientists in non-invasive technologies to evaluate fetal health, genetics/epigenetics, nutrition, infectious disease and the microbiome, public health, artificial intelligence and data science. Conference meals include extended periods of time for lunch and a dinner to support delegate networking. A final panel including the MPIs and Dr. Yoel Sadovsky will synthesize the conference proceedings and generate recommendations to advance the field. Manuscripts will be developed from the lectures for publication in an issue of the journal Seminars in Perinatology focusing on the theme, Translational Research to Integrate Maternal, Fetal and Infant Health.

FIC - John E. Fogarty International Center for Advanced Study in the Health Sciences

In Vietnam, adolescent and young men vulnerable to HIV through sexual behaviors are among those most affected by the infection, with an HIV prevalence that quadrupled from 3% in 2011 to 13% in 2020. More than 20% of Vietnamese young men living with HIV had moderate-to-severe depression and anxiety symptoms. These youths experienced extensive stigma related to their HIV status and sexual behaviors. There is a dearth of youth-friendly mental health services in Vietnam where there is less than one psychiatrist per 100,000 people. Project YES+ is an intervention integrating two evidence-based interventions, Project YES! and Self-Help+ to improve mental health, stigma, and HIV outcomes among youth living with HIV in Zambia (5R01TW012411). Youth Engaging for Success (Project YES!) is an HIV clinic-based peer mentoring CDC-designated intervention that successfully decreased HIV self-stigma and increased viral suppression. Self-Help+ is a group-based lay-delivered program endorsed by WHO that effectively prevents the onset of mental disorders and reduces mental health symptoms in different cultures. We propose to adapt Project YES+ for adolescent and young men living with HIV in Vietnam to create To Hieu (I Understand) and to pilot test the adapted intervention. The specific aims are to (1) Adapt Project YES+ to create To Hieu to improve mental health and reduce internalized HIV stigma for adolescent and young men living with HIV in Vietnam and (2) Examine acceptability and feasibility of To Hieu among adolescent and young men living with HIV through a pilot randomized controlled trial. In Aim 1, the adaption will follow the 8-step ADAPT-ITT framework.38 We will conduct in-depth interviews with adolescent and young men living with HIV (N=20) to explore preferences for the core components and formats of To Hieu. We will hold a human-centered design workshop to engage adolescent and young men living with HIV in co-design activities to refine To Hieu. In Aim 2, we will recruit 80 adolescent and young men living with HIV with depression or anxiety symptoms at two HIV clinics in Hanoi, Vietnam and randomize them 1:1 into two arms. The intervention arm will receive To Hieu in 4 months, while the control arm will receive standard of care at the clinics. The RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) framework will guide the measurement of the outcomes. We will calculate participation rates of participants (Reach) at baseline. We will assess acceptability through the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire and feasibility through intervention attendance (Adoption) at 4 months. Depression, anxiety symptoms, internalized HIV and sexual stigma, ART adherence and viral suppression of participants will be evaluated at baseline, 4 months and compared between groups (preliminary Effectiveness). We will conduct exit interviews with participants, youth peer mentors and HIV providers (N=30) to explore acceptability, feasibility (Implementation) and sustainability (Maintenance) of To Hieu. This research will build local capacity and develop networks for collaborative research on mental health and stigma among adolescent and young men living with HIV between Vietnam and the US.

NIH

The proposed CDA-2 will support Dr. Giff’s pursuit of a VA research career focused on improving the psychosocial functioning of Veterans with co-occurring post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Significance to VA: PTSD and AUD are highly comorbid, which presents a unique set of challenges for Veterans and their loved ones. Experiencing PTSD-AUD exponentially increases Veterans’ risk for debilitating mental health sequelae, poor physical health, and deleterious social and occupational outcomes. COPE is a robustly evidence-based treatment for PTSD-AUD that is widely used in VA clinics. While COPE outcomes related to PTSD symptom reduction are consistently outstanding, there is room to improve both AUD outcomes and rates of retention. COPE shows moderate effects on Veterans’ drinking reductions, indicating a critical need for research examining novel ways to bolster drinking outcomes. Innovation and Impact: Results from separate literatures indicate that integrating a family member or significant other (SO) is a promising method to improve AUD recovery and AUD and PTSD treatment retention. Veterans with AUD and PTSD often report conflictual relationships, which can interfere with AUD recovery, and including SOs is likely to foster more effective dyadic support and communication. The brief inclusion of SOs in Veterans’ treatment of PTSD-AUD is yet to be studied, despite strong potential for this model to improve treatment effectiveness, retention, and dyadic functioning. Pairing COPE with Brief Family-Involved Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorder (B-FIT) is one promising method to bridge this persistent gap in treatment programming for Veterans. B-FIT is a 3-session dyadic intervention designed to be delivered alongside evidence-based individual AUD treatments. Distilled from the original 12-session Alcohol Behavioral Couple Therapy, B-FIT focuses on enhancing family support for alcohol behavior change efforts and improving communication skills. A recent pilot of B-FIT demonstrated large effects for reductions in risky drinking. The objective of the proposed study is to examine the preliminary feasibility and acceptability of combining B-FIT with COPE among Veterans with co-occurring PTSD and AUD. Specific Aims: 1. Adapt the B-FIT manual to be delivered as an adjunct intervention to COPE; 2. Examine the feasibility and acceptability of BFIT + COPE through a one-armed open-label pilot trial as assessed by (a) rates of enrollment and treatment completion; and (b) participants’ quantitative ratings and qualitative perceptions of the intervention; and 3) Explore the effects of BFIT + COPE from pre- to posttreatment and at 3-month follow-up on (a) AUD outcomes, (b) psychosocial and relationship functioning, and (c) PTSD outcomes. Methodology: Aim 1 will include qualitative interviews with 10 Veteran-SO dyads and 10 VHA mental health clinicians to inform an adaptation of the B-FIT manual to be relevant for Veterans with PTSD-AUD. Once completed, the adapted manual will be piloted through a single-arm, open feasibility trial of 40 Veteran-SO dyads with primary outcomes of feasibility and acceptability. Secondary outcomes of AUD (AUDIT & TLFB); psychosocial functioning (B-IPF, Q-LES-Q-SF, DAS-7); and PTSD (PCL-5 & CAPS) will be explored. Path to Translation/Implementation: This project will provide critical pilot data on feasibility and implementation to support a subsequent Merit award testing the effectiveness and implementation of this intervention in VA clinics. The following training aims will ensure that the candidate is poised to continue this work: (1) Veteran-centered intervention development/adaptation and clinical trials management; (2) Knowledge of AUD; (3) Advanced statistical analysis; (4) Preliminary education in dissemination and implementation; and (5) Scholarly productivity and professional development. The candidate will accomplish these aims through devoted mentorship, didactic opportunities, and by leading the proposed project. She will conduct this work with support from the scientific community at the Ralph H. Johnson VAHCS and MUSC. The research and training proposed can address urgent needs within VHA and will prepare the candidate to be an expert in family-supported interventions to improve the lives of Veterans.