Grant Details

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The purpose of this program is to encourage research projects to assess the effectiveness of therapeutic and services interventions for the post-acute phase management of mental health conditions affecting youth and adults, including older adults. The clinical trial should also be designed and sufficiently powered to definitively test effectiveness. The study should also be designed to address hypotheses regarding predictors and moderators of effectiveness, in order to examine whether the intervention engages the target/mechanism(s) presumed to underlie the intervention effects and to address questions regarding the role of such mechanisms in producing clinical benefit.  

This program is intended to support research focused on the effectiveness of therapeutic and service-delivery interventions: (1) that are intended specifically for the post-acute management of mental health conditions, and (2) that principally involve the use of research-supported strategies (e.g., in sequence or in combination), matched to the stage of illness.

Examples of relevant research topics include but are not limited to:

• Continuation treatments (psychosocial, pharmacological, and/or neuromodulation strategies) that strengthen and extend gains achieved during initial treatment, or specifically target residual symptoms/impairments associated with relapse/ongoing dysfunction;
• Strategies for negotiating transitions from an initial intensive treatment to a less intensive follow-up care;
• Maintenance therapies that promote ongoing monitoring and continued use of pharmacological, neuromodulation, and/or psychosocial approaches tailored to the stage of illness;
• Targeted strategies to optimize longer-term pharmacotherapy/neuromodulation, prevent long-term adverse effects of treatment (e.g., metabolic syndrome with antipsychotics, memory loss with electroconvulsive therapy), and reduce unnecessary polypharmacy;
• Strategies for initiating preventive interventions among youth treated for gateway conditions” (e.g., ADHD, anxiety, first episode psychosis) in order to reduce risk for commons downstream comorbidities (e.g., substance use disorders, suicidality);
• Novel adherence interventions that combine monitoring with engagement strategies to promote mental health hygiene habits, adherence and appropriate service use (e.g., minimize ED visits and re-hospitalization);
• Technology-assisted self-monitoring or passive monitoring to detect clinical deteriorations or problematic adherence combined with prompts for self-management strategies or more intense services (e.g., via a patient-clinician interface or portal);
• Empirically informed transition planning strategies to facilitate community reintegration, promote continuity of care, and prevent re-hospitalization following inpatient or residential treatment;
• Population-level strategies that use routinely collected data within healthcare networks/EHRs for surveilling, monitoring, prompting engagement (e.g., care manager check-ins) and promoting appropriate service use.