Application deadline: August 15, 2001
Background:The goal of the Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health (IAPH) is to lead a national advanced research agenda in the area of Aboriginal health, and to promote innovative research in this field that improves the health of Aboriginal peoples living in Canada.
To address its health research priorities, IAPH has developed a strategic plan that has identified the following four research team initiatives:
a survey research centre for Aboriginal health;
child and youth health promotion and risk reduction, community wellness, and addictions;
the influence of stress in the etiology and management of diabetes among Aboriginal Canadians; and
prevention of accidents and injury.
These initiatives will be led by the IAPH in collaboration with other interested CIHR Institutes.
Overview :
Survey research centre for Aboriginal health. The objective of this initiative is to create a research centre, which will develop, implement and analyze health surveys. This centre will be responsible for producing quality, comparable, statistically valid, and culturally relevant epidemiological and qualitative data, relevant to Aboriginal peoples. This data can then be used to make comparisons on health status between Aboriginal communities and populations, as well as between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians. Projects require partnership with aboriginal communities to stimulate evidence-based health policy and program planning in the context and spirit of aboriginal self determination. Only one centre will be funded.
Child and youth health promotion and risk reduction, community wellness, and addictions. To begin to address well-being among children and youth, we propose an inter-disciplinary research team approach that focuses on holistic, community based participatory research programs to investigate factors that promote health for children and youth while contributing to community empowerment.
Investigators should take into consideration the fact that this is an Aboriginal community-based research project and adapt new ways of communication and partnership which respect community protocols. Reducing health risks such as tobacco, alcohol, drug and volatile substance abuse must be a component of the risk reduction strategy.
Influence of stress in the etiology and management of diabetes among Aboriginal Canadians. The rate of diabetes mellitus is three to five times higher among Aboriginal people than the general Canadian population. Recent research suggests that there may be a link between stress, depression and diabetes. The possibility that these factors are related may be compelling, because the prevalence rates of both stress and diabetes are high among Aboriginal Canadians. The purpose of this request for proposals is to determine the potential interaction effects of stress and diabetes and to investigate potential strategies for stress reduction among diabetic patients.
Prevention of accidents and injury. Injuries are the leading cause of death for all Canadians between the ages of one and forty-four years. However, Aboriginal communities experience a three- to six-fold increased risk of death due to injury when compared to other Canadians. This area of investigation holds particular promise to improve health, as there appears to be much room for primary preventative measures to eliminate or reduce the incidence of unintentional accident and injury among all demographic cohorts. Numerous primary prevention measures that are known to be effective in other populations have not been adapted, implemented, and evaluated in aboriginal communities. Injury prevention research has the potential to be rapidly transformative, with immediate and significant community impacts.
Criteria for Adjudication:
A. General Criteria
Each proposal must describe how the grant will address one of the important health issues described above. Proposals will be evaluated on:
Demonstrated research excellence of the applicant in the area;
Original, innovative, coordinated and feasible research plan which will generate valid, reliable and useful data;
Extent and nature of community involvement in the identification of the research problem, development and implementation of project strategies (i.e., working relationship with Aboriginal communities and organizations). Required information on community partnerships and commitments include:
identified partnership(s) with community organizations, and a brief description of how they operate or will operate with regard to governance and interaction during the research; and
The contribution and support for the project provided by the institution(s) and community organization(s). Their contribution may be in staff time, in kind, and/or in cash, where feasible.
Demonstration that the research team will bring added value, in terms of the approach to the health problem, which would not be possible if the components were to be funded as a series of separate operating grants;
The ability to bring together, in a meaningful collaboration, researchers from different disciplines, institutions, sectors and regions;
How the research proposals will help develop capacity among Aboriginal people to undertake scientific research; and
How the research results will be disseminated to the community in a manner that will make the research transformative.
B. Specific Criteria
In addition to the general criteria, the following research initiatives must also address, and will be evaluated on, the following:
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Survey research centre for Aboriginal health
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Child and youth health promotion and risk reduction, community wellness, and addictions
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Stress in the etiology and management of diabetes among Aboriginal Canadians
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Prevention of unintentional accidents and injury
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Eligibility
Teams will consist of three or more researchers who will pool their expertise, different perspectives, and resources to address one of the important health issues described above.
The research plans of the team will require an ongoing, active and substantive working relationships among researchers who would normally be associated with two or more of the biomedical, clinical, health services or population health research sectors.
This program emphasizes the discovery of new knowledge and the translation of research findings into the improvements of the health of Aboriginal Canadians. The participation of partners from public, private sector, voluntary, international and not-for-profit organizations both as funders and as active members of the research team is encouraged.
At least 2 members of the team must be fully-qualified independent researcher(s) employed at a Canadian not-for-profit institution. In addition the team leader must be a researcher who holds his/her major academic appointment, whether full-or part-time, at a Canadian university or affiliated institution. The university or institution must have agreed to allow the team leader responsibility for directing research projects and supervising students.
The team leader is the person who will act as research program director and assumes administrative responsibility for the grant. No persons listed as a member of the team may receive a salary from the grant.
Proposals with researchers working in at least two different institutions is encouraged.
Proposals must be based on an active partnerships between a community organization(s) and research team(s) whose members are affiliated with local universities, hospitals or other not-for-profit institutions capable of conducting health research. The partner may also contribute funding or in-kind support to the research project (such as office space or staff time), according to its ability to do so.
Community partners include tribal councils, aboriginal organizations, school boards, health-oriented service clubs, community foundations and organizations, local, provincial and national health charities, hospital and research institute foundations, municipal and regional health authorities, district health councils, and provincial government agencies. The guiding principle is that teams from the community be active and ongoing participants in research, training and dissemination activities, and that their roles have been agreed upon in a spirit of equity and mutual benefit.
Community partnership is not a requirement for the "stress in the etiology and management of diabetes among Aboriginal Canadians" initiative.
CIHR and IAPH are committed to assessing the results of strategic initiatives and reporting them to Canadians and Parliament. Assessment
activities may require the review or evaluation of this strategic initiative. If
selected, the grantee agrees to participate in assessment activities.
Funds Available:
For the four components of this research initiative, a minimum of $600,000 will be made available in fiscal year 2001-02 (i.e., $1.2M per full fiscal year). Projects will be funded for one to three years with the exception of the Survey Research Centre for Aboriginal health, which may be funded for up to 8 years.
CIHR expects that support of the Survey Research Centre will become an attractive opportunity for partnership with other funders of health research, including the charitable, academic and governmental sectors.
Applicants are encouraged to develop realistic proposals based on existing capacity and immediate needs. Applications from smaller institutions or from regions where capacity development is at a more preliminary level are encouraged.
Allowable costs:
Support will be provided for:
the direct costs of performing the research, including equipment and maintenance costs, data collection and maintenance of information holdings, travel costs, and salaries for technical assistance and project coordinators, but not salary support for the members of the investigator team;
salary of a professional co-ordinator;
support for a limited number of research trainees, based on a solid justification for the role of the trainees in the research program;
travel and subsistence costs related to conducting the program of activities (e.g. for data collection, team meetings, dissemination activities, etc.); and
costs that will be incurred in dissemination and educational activities,
such as holding seminars, public lectures and the preparation of educational materials such as videotapes.
Application instructions:
By the deadline date of August 15, 2001, applicants must provide:
a completed CIHR Research Module, with a maximum eleven page proposal, addressing all criteria described under "Criteria for adjudication";
a letter signed by a responsible official of the research-intensive partner, confirming its willingness to provide faculty positions and appropriate research facilities for appropriately qualified individuals;
a completed CIHR budget module (including the costs of personnel, travel, supply/equipment, etc.) which fully justifies each item of funding requested (Please refer to the CIHR Grants and Awards Guide: Research Funding Programs - General Guidelines for All Research Funding Programs);
the principal and co-applicants should provide a completed CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC CV module.
Applicants must obtain a Personal Identification Number prior to submitting their applications.
Nine copies of the complete application is required. Applications will be reviewed by an international panel, including representation from the aboriginal community. Results will be announced in mid-October, 2001. Funding will begin immediately.
For further information, please contact:
Stephanie Robertson
Program Officer
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
410 Laurier Avenue West, 9th floor, Address Locator 4209A,
Ottawa, ON K1A 0W9
Telephone: (613) 957-8671; Fax: (613) 954-1800; Email: srobertson@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
or
Earl Nowgesic
Assistant Director
Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health
Tel: (416) 978-0962; Fax: (416) 978-8299; Email: earl.nowgesic@utoronto.ca
