Leveraging Social Networks to Promote Widespread Individual Behavior Change (R34 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA AG 24 026

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AG 24 026

The NIH funding opportunity "Leveraging Social Networks to Promote Widespread Individual Behavior Change (R34 Clinical Trial Optional)" (RFA-AG-24-026) supports early-stage, pre-trial work to get a social network-based health behavior change intervention ready for a future, larger hypothesis-driven study. The central idea is to use social networks, meaning the web of relationships around people such as family, friends, peers, coworkers, or community ties, as a practical lever for improving health behaviors across the lifespan. A major emphasis is placed on areas where social network interventions have not been widely built out or rigorously tried, especially among mid-life and older adults, where relationship structures and social influence can look very different than in youth-focused research. This mechanism is intended to fund the groundwork that makes a later clinical trial or other rigorous evaluation possible, rather than paying for the full test of whether the intervention works.

This R34 is specifically for projects where the investigators have already identified a concrete intervention target rooted in social network science, such as a specific interpersonal behavior-change process (for example, social influence, social support, accountability, peer modeling, norms, or information diffusion) or a measurable characteristic of networks (for example, centrality, density, clustering, tie strength, bridging ties, or network composition). In other words, the program is not looking for exploratory projects still trying to figure out what the key target should be. Instead, it funds planning activities that generate the "necessary and sufficient" information to make final design decisions before launching a full-scale, hypothesis-driven trial.

The kinds of activities encouraged are practical development and readiness tasks that reduce risk and uncertainty before a larger study. Examples include building and organizing the research team and partnerships (often essential when combining behavioral science, network methods, clinical or public health expertise, and community implementation), developing intervention protocols and manuals, and setting up or piloting systems for collecting, managing, and protecting network data (which can be sensitive because it involves information about relationships and sometimes includes data about people who are not direct participants). The NOFO also highlights feasibility and acceptability work, such as testing recruitment strategies, determining whether participants will engage with the network-based components, evaluating whether the procedures fit the realities of the target community, and identifying barriers that would undermine implementation later. Additional supported tasks include staff training and creating documentation and operating procedures, which are often required to ensure that later trials can be run consistently across staff, sites, or time.

Several categories of research are explicitly described as outside the scope of this R34. Basic experimental or observational social and behavioral science studies that primarily aim to understand mechanisms, such as how intrapersonal and interpersonal behavior change processes interact with network structures, are not a fit here. Also out of scope are projects aimed at discovering or selecting targets for future interventions, as well as projects focused on developing, refining, or optimizing measurement tools or assays for those targets. Those more discovery-oriented efforts are directed to the companion R01 opportunity (RFA-AG-24-025). Finally, this R34 does not support studies that test efficacy or effectiveness of the social network intervention itself; the goal is to prepare for that later stage, not to run the definitive trial under this award.

Administratively, this is a discretionary NIH grant using the R34 mechanism, and it is labeled "Clinical Trial Optional," meaning applicants may include certain types of clinical trial-related planning or pilot elements if appropriate, but the award is not meant to be an efficacy or effectiveness trial. The opportunity lists an award ceiling of $225,000. The original closing date provided is 2023-11-03, and the opportunity was created on 2023-06-08. The activity aligns with CFDA numbers 93.399 and 93.866. Eligible applicants are broad and include many government, academic, nonprofit, and private-sector entities, such as state, county, and local governments; public and private institutions of higher education; independent school districts; special district governments; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) and small businesses; and additional "other" entities. The NOFO also explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant types such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISISs, Hispanic-serving institutions, HBCUs, tribally controlled colleges and universities, faith-based and community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, non-U.S. (foreign) organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions.

In practical terms, a strong application for this R34 would present a well-justified social network intervention concept with a clearly defined interpersonal or network target already in hand, then lay out a focused set of planning aims that will concretely answer the remaining "go/no-go" questions before a larger trial. That usually means showing exactly what information will be produced by pilots and feasibility work (for example, recruitment and retention benchmarks, engagement thresholds, fidelity and training procedures, workable network data collection methods, and community acceptability findings), and how those outputs will directly shape the final intervention design and trial-ready protocol.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Leveraging Social Networks to Promote Widespread Individual Behavior Change (R34 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.399, 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-06-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-11-03. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $225,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA AG 24 026

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: