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Course Objectives The NIH Summer Institute will address essential conceptual, methodological, and practical issues inherent in planning and conducting research on health promotion, disease prevention, and health disparities that is conducted in partnership between communities and researchers and targets medically underserved areas (MUAs) and medically underserved populations (MUPs) as defined by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). This research may include intervention research (i.e., quasi-experimental research projects that seek to influence preventive behaviors, treatment adherences, complementary behaviors, and related attitudes and beliefs). Natural experiments also may fall under the interventions rubric. Examples include, and are not limited to promotion of physical activity-friendly neighborhoods; tobacco, alcohol and drug abuse prevention among youth; a community-led action plan for cancer, hypertension and cardiovascular disease prevention and control in minority populations; establishing safer work practices among agricultural workers in rural areas; nutrition and reducing childhood obesity; HIV/AIDS and STD prevalence among young adults; promoting infant mental health; and reducing health disparities. The relevance of such interventions to the NIH public health goal of improving health outcomes in medically underserved areas and with medically underserved populations has been outlined in PA-08-074 (R01): Community Participation in Research; PAR-08-075 (R01): Community Participation Research Targeting the Medically Underserved; and PAR-08-076 (R21): Community Participation Research Targeting the Medically Underserved. The Institute is intended for investigators who wish to develop NIH grant applications for research targeting the medically underserved. Faculty will include established investigators from social work and other fields and who will provide instruction based on their expertise and own successful projects. The goal is for each participant to develop an NIH R21 or R01 under the above mechanisms. We are encouraging participation by both Investigators and the Community Partners.
Community-partnered approaches to research promise to deepen our scientific base of knowledge in the areas of health promotion, disease prevention, and health disparities. Community-partnered research processes offer the potential to generate better-informed hypotheses, develop more effective interventions, and enhance the translation of the research results into practice. The Institute is intended for participants that demonstrates clear community partnerships with substantive involvement in their proposed research projects. Specifically, involving community and academic partners as research collaborators improves the quality and impact of research by:
Topics to be addressed include:
Participants will spend mornings in instructional sessions with Summer Institute faculty. Early afternoons will be spent working on proposals. Participants will re-convene in late afternoons to discuss cross-cutting issues and share the progress of their work. In order to achieve the objectives of the 2009 Summer Institute, it is expected that participants will work on their proposals during the evening hours. Proposals may be written in response to any of the following or other applicable NIH program announcements (see: http://obssr.od.nih.gov/funding_opportunities/foas/index.aspx): Community Participation Research Targeting the Medically Underserved
Behavioral and Social Science Research on Understanding and Reducing Health Disparities
Understanding and Promoting Health Literacy
Impact of Health Communication Strategies on Dietary Behaviors Health Promotion Among Racial and Ethnic Minority Males
The Institute will be held in New Orleans, LA
No fee is charged for the Summer Institute Program. Room and board and materials will be covered by NIH. Travel expenses and the cost of meals not provided for you will be reimbursed at the conclusion of the Institute.
In May 2003, the National Institutes of Health developed the first trans-institute plan for social work research. This document, dubbed the NIH Plan for Social Work Research, made a series of recommendations to further enhance this area of research in the extramural program. One of the proposed initiatives was for NIH to conduct a Summer Institute on Social Work Research. This initiative has focused on various research methods since the publication of the NIH Plan, including: qualitative and mixed research methods, behavioral intervention research, community-based participatory research, and cross-systems research to improve health outcomes. These methodologies represent frequently mentioned research infrastructure and training needs in the field. Specifically, the NIH plan proposed to: Develop and implement an NIH Summer Institute on Social Work Research offering new researchers intensive exposure to issues and challenges in the field of social work research. The program of the Summer Institute would include lectures, seminars, and small group discussions in research design relative to social work as it relates to health, discussion sessions on methodological approaches and interventions, and consultation on the development of research interests and advice on preparing and submitting research grant applications to the NIH.
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