Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 14 143
Apply for PAR 14 143
- The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Establishing Behavioral and Social Measures for Causal Pathway Research in Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Health (R01)" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.121 Oral Diseases and Disorders Research.
- This funding opportunity was created on May 16, 2014 and posted on Mar 5, 2014.
- Applicants must submit their applications by May 7, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Eligible applicants include: Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized) Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification) Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education City or township governments Public and State controlled institutions of higher education Special district governments Small businesses State governments Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments) Private institutions of higher education Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities County governments For profit organizations other than small businesses Independent school districts.
- Other Eligible Applicants include the following Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs) Eligible Agencies of the Federal Government Faith based or Community based Organizations Hispanic serving Institutions Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Other than Federally Recognized) Non domestic (non U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations) Regional Organizations Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs) U.S. Territory or Possession Non domestic (non U.S.) Entities (Foreign Institutions) are eligible to apply. Non domestic (non U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are eligible to apply. Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed.
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Opportunity Summary:
The NIH grant opportunity PAR-14-143, titled "Establishing Behavioral and Social Measures for Causal Pathway Research in Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Health (R01)," is designed to strengthen dental, oral, and craniofacial health research by funding the creation or improvement of measurement tools that make it possible to test causal explanations. The central idea is that many oral health outcomes are shaped not only by biology and clinical care, but also by behaviors, social experiences, and environmental conditions. To draw stronger cause-and-effect conclusions about those influences, researchers need measures that are precise, reliable, valid, and workable in real-world populations. This program focuses specifically on building that measurement foundation.
The announcement encourages applications that develop and test, or adapt and test, two broad types of measures. The first type covers measures of the behavioral and social targets of interventions meant to improve oral health. That can include tools to capture health behaviors (for example, oral hygiene routines, diet or sugar intake patterns, dental care seeking), social interactions and relationship dynamics (such as family routines, peer influences, caregiver support), and broader contextual conditions like community characteristics and built environments (such as neighborhood access to healthy foods, fluoridated water availability, transportation barriers, or the presence of dental clinics). The goal is to produce measures that accurately represent the phenomena that interventions aim to change, so researchers can determine whether an intervention truly affected the intended target and whether that change plausibly explains improvements in oral health outcomes.
The second type of measure emphasized by the program includes tools that assess the hypothesized mediators and moderators of intervention effects. Mediators are the mechanisms that explain how or why an intervention works (for example, changes in self-efficacy, stress, knowledge, perceived norms, or routines that then lead to better oral health behaviors). Moderators are factors that influence when, for whom, or under what circumstances an intervention works better or worse (for example, socioeconomic hardship, discrimination experiences, health literacy, cultural factors, community resource levels, or baseline risk). By supporting measures in this category, the funding opportunity aims to enable stronger causal pathway research, where investigators can test not just whether an intervention has an effect, but the pathways through which effects occur and the conditions that shape them.
Across both measure types, the program is explicit about the expected scientific standards. Applications are expected to establish reliability and validity, meaning the measure should be consistent and stable where appropriate (reliability) and should actually capture what it claims to measure (validity). In practice, this often implies careful instrument development and refinement, psychometric testing, and comparisons to existing benchmarks when available. The opportunity also stresses acceptability in the target population, recognizing that even technically strong measures can fail if they are too burdensome, confusing, culturally mismatched, or otherwise impractical. Applicants are therefore expected to show that people in the intended population can and will use the measure as designed, whether it is delivered through surveys, interviews, observation protocols, ecological momentary assessment, passive sensing, community audits, or other approaches.
A key boundary of the announcement is that it does not support the conduct of clinical trials. In other words, the funding is meant for measurement development and evaluation rather than testing clinical interventions for efficacy or effectiveness. This restriction aligns with NIDCR policy on clinical trials (referenced in the announcement as NOT-DE-11-002). Projects can be closely tied to intervention science in terms of measuring intervention targets, mechanisms, and contextual factors, but the funded work should not be structured as a clinical trial.
Administratively, this is an NIH discretionary grant opportunity using the R01 mechanism, with the activity category listed as Health and the CFDA program number 93.121 (Oral Diseases and Disorders Research). It does not require cost sharing or matching. The sponsoring agency is the National Institutes of Health, and the archived timeline shows it was posted March 5, 2014, with closing dates in 2017 and an archive date of June 7, 2017.
Eligibility is broad and includes many kinds of domestic and non-domestic entities. Eligible applicants include public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations (including both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) entities), for-profit organizations (including small businesses and other for-profits), and multiple levels of government such as state, county, city or township, special district governments, and independent school districts. Tribal governments and tribal organizations are included (both federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal entities), and the eligibility language explicitly includes a wide range of mission-specific institutions and community-based applicants, such as HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribally controlled colleges and universities, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian serving institutions, and AANAPISI institutions. Foreign organizations and foreign components are also allowed, including non-U.S. institutions and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations, consistent with NIH policy on foreign components.
Overall, this opportunity is best understood as a targeted investment in measurement science for oral health-related behavioral and social research. Rather than funding interventions directly, it funds the tools needed to rigorously test causal pathways: measures that capture what interventions change, the mechanisms that explain change, and the social and environmental conditions that shape outcomes. For researchers building a program of behavioral and social oral health research, the intended end product is a set of well-validated, acceptable, and widely usable measures that can improve the quality and interpretability of future causal studies in dental, oral, and craniofacial health.
FAQs: NIH PAR-14-143 (R01) - Establishing Behavioral and Social Measures for Causal Pathway Research in Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Health
What is PAR-14-143 trying to fund?
PAR-14-143 funds the creation, improvement, adaptation, and testing of measurement tools that help researchers make stronger cause-and-effect conclusions in dental, oral, and craniofacial health research. The focus is on behavioral, social, and environmental measures that support causal pathway research.
What is the main purpose of the opportunity?
The purpose is to strengthen oral health research by building a solid measurement foundation so investigators can test causal explanations. The program emphasizes measures that are precise, reliable, valid, and workable in real-world populations.
What kinds of influences on oral health does this opportunity emphasize?
It emphasizes influences beyond biology and clinical care, including behaviors, social experiences, and environmental conditions that shape oral health outcomes.
What are the two broad types of measures this program encourages?
The program encourages (1) measures of behavioral and social targets of interventions meant to improve oral health and (2) measures of hypothesized mediators and moderators of intervention effects.
What does "measures of the behavioral and social targets of interventions" mean in this context?
These are tools designed to capture the specific behaviors, social dynamics, or contextual conditions that interventions aim to change. The goal is to measure whether an intervention changed its intended target and whether that change plausibly explains improvements in oral health outcomes.
What are examples of health behaviors this opportunity mentions measuring?
Examples include oral hygiene routines, diet or sugar intake patterns, and dental care seeking behaviors.
What are examples of social interactions or relationship dynamics that could be measured?
Examples include family routines, peer influences, and caregiver support.
What are examples of broader contextual or environmental conditions that could be measured?
Examples include community characteristics and built environments such as neighborhood access to healthy foods, fluoridated water availability, transportation barriers, and the presence of dental clinics.
What are mediators, and why does the program emphasize measuring them?
Mediators are mechanisms that explain how or why an intervention works. The program emphasizes mediator measures so researchers can test the pathways through which an intervention leads to improved oral health outcomes.
What are examples of mediators mentioned in the opportunity?
Examples include changes in self-efficacy, stress, knowledge, perceived norms, or routines that then lead to better oral health behaviors.
What are moderators, and why does the program emphasize measuring them?
Moderators are factors that influence when, for whom, or under what circumstances an intervention works better or worse. Measuring moderators supports stronger causal pathway research by clarifying differential effects across people and settings.
What are examples of moderators mentioned in the opportunity?
Examples include socioeconomic hardship, discrimination experiences, health literacy, cultural factors, community resource levels, and baseline risk.
What scientific standards does the announcement expect for measures developed or tested under this grant?
The announcement explicitly expects reliability and validity to be established. It also stresses acceptability and practical usability in the target population.
What does reliability mean for a measure under this program?
Reliability means the measure should be consistent and stable where appropriate, producing dependable results when it is used as intended.
What does validity mean for a measure under this program?
Validity means the measure should actually capture what it claims to measure. The opportunity notes that this often involves careful instrument development and refinement, psychometric testing, and comparisons to existing benchmarks when available.
Why does the program emphasize acceptability in the target population?
Because even technically strong measures can fail in practice if they are too burdensome, confusing, culturally mismatched, or otherwise impractical. The program expects applicants to show that intended users can and will use the measure as designed.
What methods of measurement delivery or data collection are mentioned as possible approaches?
The opportunity mentions surveys, interviews, observation protocols, ecological momentary assessment, passive sensing, community audits, and other approaches.
Does PAR-14-143 support clinical trials?
No. A key boundary is that this announcement does not support the conduct of clinical trials. It is intended for measurement development and evaluation rather than testing clinical interventions for efficacy or effectiveness.
If clinical trials are not supported, can projects still be tied to intervention science?
Yes. Projects can be closely tied to intervention science in terms of measuring intervention targets, mechanisms, and contextual factors, but the funded work should not be structured as a clinical trial.
What funding mechanism does this opportunity use?
It uses the NIH R01 mechanism.
Which agency sponsors this opportunity?
The sponsoring agency is the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
What is the activity category and CFDA number listed for this opportunity?
The activity category is Health, and the CFDA program number is 93.121 (Oral Diseases and Disorders Research).
Is cost sharing or matching required?
No. The opportunity states that it does not require cost sharing or matching.
When was this opportunity posted, and what is its archived status?
The archived timeline shows it was posted on March 5, 2014. It had closing dates in 2017 and an archive date of June 7, 2017.
Who is eligible to apply?
Eligibility is broad and includes many domestic and non-domestic entities, including higher education institutions, nonprofits, for-profits, and multiple levels of government, as well as tribal governments and tribal organizations.
Are both public and private institutions of higher education eligible?
Yes. Both public and private institutions of higher education are listed as eligible.
Are nonprofit organizations eligible, including those without 501(c)(3) status?
Yes. The eligibility language includes nonprofit organizations, including both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) entities.
Are for-profit organizations eligible to apply?
Yes. For-profit organizations are eligible, including small businesses and other for-profit entities.
What types of government entities are eligible?
Eligible government entities include state, county, city or township, special district governments, and independent school districts.
Are tribal governments and tribal organizations eligible?
Yes. The opportunity includes federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal entities, as well as tribal organizations.
Does the eligibility language include mission-specific and community-based institutions?
Yes. The announcement explicitly includes a wide range of mission-specific institutions and community-based applicants, including HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribally controlled colleges and universities, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian serving institutions, and AANAPISI institutions.
Are foreign organizations or foreign components allowed?
Yes. Foreign organizations and foreign components are allowed, including non-U.S. institutions and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations, consistent with NIH policy on foreign components.
What is the intended end product of projects funded under this opportunity?
The intended end product is a set of well-validated, acceptable, and widely usable measures that improve the quality and interpretability of future causal studies in dental, oral, and craniofacial health.
How does this opportunity support causal pathway research specifically?
It supports causal pathway research by funding measures that (1) accurately capture what interventions aim to change, (2) assess mechanisms that explain how or why changes occur (mediators), and (3) assess conditions that shape when and for whom interventions work (moderators).
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