Grant Writing

Bill Latimer, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Professor and Chair

Clinical and Health Psychology

College of Public Health and Health Professions

University of Florida

Grants are Good

•Research Staff

•South Africa Study Staff: Tshidi Mabala, Sam Ntshegang, Bill Latimer, Dr. Anne-Gloria Moleko, Maria More, Naomi Molfe

•Veronica Dixon (Principal, Highlandtown Middle School)

•US State Department

•Humphrey Fellowship

State Department Reception

Approach to Grant WritingGeneral Principles

Always be Positive

(Almost) Always Follow Your Passion

Do not Delude Yourself that Anyone Agrees with You or Your Passion

Network and Build a Team (Always ask)

No Researcher Exists on an Island (unless you exist on an island)

Get Ready for Pain and Suffering

Get Over Your Fear (and ego) and Get Brutal Internal Reviewers

Get Ready for More Pain And Suffering (i.e., revision)

Selecting an Idea

NIH Program Staff-Two Approaches:

To Consult or Not to Consult

[NIH Priorities Matter (especially now)]

Selecting a Mechanism

R01; R21; R03; K

PA vs. RFA

What All Funded Grants Had (in my opinion)

*Compelling and Clear Logic of Public Health Significance

*Compelling and Clear Logic of Innovation

*Explicit and Simple Aims with Specific Measures

*A Conceptual Model Figure

*Empirically and Conceptually Driven Hypotheses

*Preliminary Studies Tables that Support Hypotheses

*Preliminary Studies that Support Feasibility

*Study Design Figure

*Timeline Figure/Table

*Power Analyses Graphs/Figures/Tables that Inform Sample Size

*Predict and Address Limitations

Significance

• The criminal justice system is an epicenter of the US HIV epidemic with estimates suggesting upwards of 20% of all HIV infected adults pass through US jails and prisons each year [5, 22-25]. A gap in the criminal justice field is evident as reentry programs designed to prevent HIV upon release have largely focused on inmates released from prison and exclude the much larger population of jail arrestees [26-29]. The significance of targeting arrestees is highlighted by studies demonstrating that short-term incarcerations are more strongly associated with elevated HIV risk behaviors upon release than long-term incarcerations [30-32].

Innovation

The proposed study is characterized by key innovations that have the potential to advance HIV prevention and treatment science by developing a science-based intervention to reduce HIV transmission fueled by drug dependent women who are pregnant.• Focus on drug dependent pregnant women • Coordination of CBT and family systems approaches• Follow-Up Assessment over 18-month period• Biological assessment of HIV and STIs• Collaboration with CAP

Simple Aims with Specific Measures

• Aim 1.To evaluate the separate and possibly synergistic effects of Family Management and Teen Achievement Interventions on post-intervention drug use, problem behavior, psychological distress, and academic achievement of indicated adolescents.

• Aim 2.To examine mediated outcome pathways whereby skills (e.g., learning skills) and behavior change processes (e.g., adaptive family communication) targeted by the family and teen interventions result in successful outcomes.

• Aim 3.To evaluate the degree to which intervention effects vary as a function of pretreatment client characteristics on neurocognitive, internalizing/externalizing, and demographic factors to discern for whom family and teen interventions work best.

•Protective Factors

•Targeted by IFCBT

•

• IFCBT Targeted Outcomes

•Executive•Function-Type

Skills:Planning

Decision MakingPredictingEvaluation

Impulse ControlIntegration

• Drug Abuse and Infectious Disease Risk Factors across

Multiple Ecological Systems

•Family Pathology

•Deviant Social Networks

•Poor Health Care Access

•Partner Conflict

•Individual Factors:

Neurocognitive•Deficits

Irrational BeliefsAlcohol/Illicit

Drug UsePsychiatric ComorbiditySexual Risk

Behavior

•IFCBT

•Conceptual Model of Integrated Family and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

•Group Therapy:Rational

Emotive Therapy Problem

Solving Therapy

•Individual•Therapy:

Executive•Function-Type •Skills Informed •by NP Assess.

•Cognitive Skills Fostered by

Group Therapy: Awareness of

•Irrational BeliefsRational Beliefs Problem Solving

Skills

•Social Support:Group MembersIntimate Partner

Family Members

•Direct:

Psychological Well-Being

Reduced Sexual Risk

Behavior

Social Support

Health Care and Self Help

Access

•Direct and•Mediated:

•Couples/Family•Therapy:

•Structural & •Strategic •Therapies

Drug Abstinence

No Infectious Disease

Transmission/Acquisition

What All Funded Grants Had (in my opinion)

*Preliminary Studies Tables that Support Hypotheses

*Preliminary Studies that Support Feasibility

We conducted a pilot test and the proposed study site. Among the 200 drug users approached to enroll in the study 196 provided consent (x%). Among the 196 who provided consent 172 completed the baseline assessment (x%). Among the 172 who completed the baseline assessment 145 completed more than 70% of the intervention and 162 completed more than 50% of the intervention. Of the 172 who completed the baseline assessment and attended 1 or more intervention sessions, 153 completed the 3-month follow-up assessment.

*Timeline Figure/Table

*Power Analyses Graphs/Figures/Tables that Inform Sample Size

*Predict and Address Limitations

Study Limitations and Offsetting Strengths. As in any randomized prevention trial, our proposed study will face a number of challenges to its design and feasibility. To meet challenges associated with participant recruitment, we will …Non-compliance can also be a serious form of bias in prevention trials. To meet challenges associated with compliance…. Differential follow-up can also be a serious form of bias in prospective studies of at-risk populations. Well-tested follow-up procedures will be used to…We also recognize that the feasibility of administering the total number of planned assessments may be questioned. To meet this challenge, the timing of the baseline, process, and outcome assessments have been organized to ensure…Throughout the proposal, we have also sought to reduce or eliminate other sources of potential bias. For example…In addition, we recognize the challenge associated with administering a 2.5-hour battery of neuropsychological tests and self-report tools to at-risk youth at the baseline and 12-month assessment points. We hope to successfully meet this challenge through…The sample will also not be fully representative of minority groups. However, an off-setting strength of the study is its anticipated equal representation of both genders and of African American and White adolescents thereby allowing for comparisons between these groups.

Research Plan Section Approach (Example)

• D2. Interventions

• D2.1. Family Management Intervention (FMI).

– A. Parent Focus Curriculum

– B. Brief Family Intervention

• D2.2. Teen Achievement Intervention.

– A. Teen Achievement Curriculum

– B. Reciprocal Peer Tutoring

• D2.3. Self-Change Control Condition.

Research Plan Section Approach (Example)

• D3. Measures

• D3.1. Intervention Fidelity Variables

• D3.2. Drug Abuse Risk and Protective Factors

• D3.3. Cognitive Functions.

• D3.4. Process Measures.

• D3.5. Outcome Measures.

Research Plan Section Approach (Example)

• D4. Study Hypotheses Informed by Ecological Theory and Empirical Findings.

• Aim 1. To evaluate the separate and possibly synergistic effects of Family Management and Teen Achievement Interventions on post-intervention drug use, problem behavior, psychological distress, and academic achievement of indicated adolescents.

• Aim 2. To elucidate mediated outcome pathways whereby skills (e.g., learning skills) and behavior change processes (e.g., adaptive family communication) targeted by the family and teen interventions result in successful outcomes.

• Aim 3. To evaluate moderated intervention outcomes by pretreatment client characteristics.

Research Plan Section Approach (Example)

• D5. Instruments • D5.1. Intervention Fidelity and Clinical Change

Tools Completed by Trained Raters. • D5.2. Tools for Parents and Adolescents. • D5.3. Tools for Parents and Teachers.• D5.4. Tools for Adolescents Only. • D5.5. Neuropsychological Assessment Battery for

Adolescents. • D5.6. Tools for Parents Only. • D5.7. School Records and Standardized

Achievement Test Scores.

Research Plan Section Approach (Example)

• D6. Intervention Fidelity.

• D6.1. Clinician Training Protocol.

• D6.2 Ongoing Evaluation of Intervention Fidelity.

• D7. Baseline Sample Size Needed To Obtain Sufficient Power At Follow-Up Allowing For Attrition.

• D8. Study Population.

• D9. Middle School Study Sites:

• D10. Recruitment Procedures:

• D11. Intervention Delivery.

Research Plan Section Approach (Example)

• D12. Data Collection: • D12.1. Baseline Assessment. • D12.2. Process Assessment. • D12.3. Outcome Assessment. • D13. Data Analysis Plan. • D14. Preliminary Analyses.• D14.1. Coding Session Videotapes to Derive

Clinical Change Process Measures • D14.2. Controlling for Possible Clinician Effects. • D14.3. Controlling for Possible School Cohort

Effects.

Research Plan Section Approach (Example)

• D14.4. Controlling for Possible Client Intake Problem Severity Between Groups

• D15. Data Analysis Plan to Address Study Aims• Aim 1. Direct Effects of Family Management and Teen

Achievement Interventions. – Aim 1.1. Intervention Effects on Continuous Outcomes. – Aim 1.2. Intervention Effects on Time-to-Event

Outcomes. – Aim 1.3. Intervention Effects on Targeted Change

Processes. – Aim 1.4. Intervention Effects on Skill Acquisition and

Problem Behavior Trajectories.

Research Plan Section Approach (Example)

• Aim 2. Effect-Mediation – Aim 2.1. Mediated Intervention Outcomes. – Aim 2.2. Intervention Effects on Distal Outcomes

Through Skill Acquisition Trajectories. – Aim 2.3. Client Group Involvement Effects on Outcome.

• Aim 3. Effect-Modification. – Aim 3.1. To Identify For Whom Interventions Work

Best. – Aim 3.2. Evaluate Non-Compliance Effects.

• D16. Study Limitations and Offsetting Strengths.

Other Stuff

Early Career Investigator

New Investigator

Supplements

Special Mechanisms

Other Stuff

Introduce Your Team

Consultants

Letters

Bios

Budget Justification

Other Stuff

Early Career Investigator

New Investigator

Supplements

Special Mechanisms

Other Stuff

Early Career Investigator

New Investigator

Supplements

Special Mechanisms

Thank you!