Pilot and Feasibility Studies in Preparation for Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Trials (R34) | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Pilot and Feasibility Studies in Preparation for Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Trials (R34) opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number PA 15 177) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) discretionary grant program designed to fund early, proof-building research that helps teams get ready for larger, full scale prevention trials. The core purpose is to support pilot and feasibility studies that generate the preliminary evidence and practical know how needed before submitting a subsequent, larger application for drug or alcohol abuse prevention and/or drug or alcohol related HIV prevention intervention research. In other words, this R34 is meant to help investigators test whether a prevention approach is workable, acceptable, and promising enough to justify a bigger, more definitive study.

The FOA emphasizes two main research directions. First, it supports pilot and feasibility testing of innovative prevention interventions that are new, revised, or adapted for specific populations or settings. These interventions should aim to prevent or delay the initiation of drug and alcohol use, prevent escalation from early use to problematic use, and reduce progression to alcohol or other substance use disorders. It also includes prevention efforts focused on reducing drinking and driving and deaths associated with impaired driving, as well as interventions intended to reduce drug or alcohol related acquisition or transmission of HIV infection and viral hepatitis. A key theme is relevance across diverse populations and real world settings, with explicit interest in interventions that target or are delivered through the healthcare system.

Second, the FOA supports pre trial feasibility testing for prevention services and systems research. This is aimed at questions that come up when prevention strategies have to function inside service systems, such as healthcare delivery organizations, community programs, schools, justice related settings, or other prevention infrastructures. Under this scope, applicants might focus on whether an approach can be implemented reliably, whether organizations can deliver it with fidelity, whether workflows and staffing models can support it, how clients engage with it, and what operational or system level barriers need to be addressed before launching a full trial.

A central expectation of the R34 mechanism here is that the work will produce early stage efficacy, effectiveness, or services research evidence. That typically means collecting the kind of preliminary outcome and implementation data that demonstrates an intervention is feasible to deliver, acceptable to participants and providers, and sufficiently promising to justify investment in a larger scale study. The FOA frames these pilot data as a prerequisite for preparing and submitting later applications for more expansive prevention intervention trials, so the R34 is positioned as a stepping stone between idea development and a full powered evaluation.

At the same time, the FOA draws a clear boundary around what it will not fund. It does not support applications where the only activity is developing intervention protocols, manuals, or standardizing procedures. Development work can be part of the project, but only if it is embedded within an actual pilot or feasibility study that tests the approach in practice. The point is not to produce materials on paper alone, but to demonstrate through real world testing that the intervention and study procedures can function as intended.

From an administrative standpoint, this is an NIH grant in the health and education related research space, tied to CFDA program areas 93.273 (Alcohol Research Programs) and 93.279 (Drug Abuse and Addiction Research Programs). There is no cost sharing or matching requirement listed, which generally means applicants are not required to contribute non federal funds as a condition of the award. The FOA was posted April 7, 2015, with an original and current closing date of May 7, 2018, and an archive date of June 7, 2018, indicating the announcement is no longer active for new submissions under that specific posting, though similar NIH FOAs may exist in later versions.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of organizations that might be positioned to conduct prevention research. Eligible applicants include state, county, city or township, and special district governments; public and state controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; independent school districts; public housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status; for profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. It also includes Native American tribal governments (federally recognized), tribal organizations (other than federally recognized governments), and a range of mission focused institutions and community entities such as faith based or community based organizations, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic serving institutions, tribally controlled colleges and universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian serving institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander serving institutions (AANAPISIs). The eligibility language also allows non U.S. entities (foreign organizations), U.S. territories or possessions, regional organizations, and eligible federal agencies, reflecting NIHs interest in scientifically strong prevention research across varied contexts.

For applicants seeking more detail, the FOA points to the full announcement on the NIH grants site (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-15-177.html). For technical issues accessing or linking to the announcement, the contact provided is the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) Webmaster at FBOWebmaster@OD.NIH.GOV.

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