PAR-25-066
Social disconnection and Suicide Risk in Late Life (R21 Clinical Trial Optional)
Summary
PAR-25-066: Social Disconnection and Suicide Risk in Late Life
Research Focus
This funding opportunity targets the urgent public health problem of late-life suicide, which has risen over 40% in the past decade and occurs at higher rates than in any other age group. The program seeks mechanistic research identifying how social disconnection—encompassing objective social isolation (few relationships, infrequent contact) and perceived social isolation or loneliness—confers suicide risk in older adults, and conversely, how social integration protects against suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Research should elucidate mechanisms across neurobiological, behavioral, psychosocial, and environmental levels of analysis, with particular interest in identifying intervention targets within an experimental therapeutics framework or modifications to healthcare and community-based services. Studies addressing health disparities, intersectionality, and the full dimensional range of suicidal ideation and behaviors in late-life populations are encouraged. Mechanistic clinical trials examining populations at risk for suicidal thoughts or intentional self-harm are eligible if they investigate mechanisms rather than test intervention efficacy.
At a Glance
- Who can apply: Domestic and foreign institutions; R21 mechanism for high-risk/high-payoff projects with limited preliminary data (companion R01 available for applications with preliminary data)
- Funding & project length: Not stated in excerpt
- Award mechanism: R21 Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant
- Key dates: Open January 16, 2025; multiple submission deadlines through February 2026; earliest start December 2025
- Best fit for: Gerontology, geriatric psychiatry, neuroscience, and public health researchers studying social isolation, loneliness, suicide prevention, and aging populations using neuroimaging, behavioral assessment, or dimensional psychopathology approaches
Key Facts
Deadline
Mon, September 7, 2026
Posted
Mon, November 18, 2024
Award / Year (direct costs)
$275,000
Max Total
$550,000
Max Duration
2 years
Keywords
Research Areas
Gotchas (3)
Clinical trials submitted to this NOFO must be 'mechanistic clinical trials' and are explicitly prohibited from proposing to influence clinical outcomes, test intervention safety/feasibility, demonstr
95%
Source Text
“Applications submitted to this NOFO that are designated as clinical trials must be mechanistic clinical trials, as defined in NOT-MH-19-006. Clinical trials that propose to influence a clinical outcome, test safety or feasibility of an intervention, demonstrate the clinical efficacy or effectiveness of an intervention, or analyze the effect size of an intervention on clinical outcomes are ineligible for this NOFO.”
R21 mechanism explicitly requires 'high risk/high payoff projects that lack preliminary data'; applications with preliminary data should apply to companion R01 (PAR-25-067) instead
85%
Source Text
“High risk/high payoff projects that lack preliminary data may be most appropriate for this R21 mechanism, while applications with preliminary data should apply to the R01 mechanism.”
If study hypotheses and enrollment criteria are not based on existing diagnostic criteria (i.e., using RDoC or dimensional constructs), the study design must 'assure that an adequate number of individ
90%
Source Text
“Under this NOFO, if study hypotheses and/or enrollment criteria are not based on existing diagnostic criteria (i.e., an RDoC or other dimensional construct is proposed to serve as the primary variable representing psychopathology), the study design and sampling plan must be such as to assure that an adequate number of individuals assessed as falling within the more severely impaired ranges of that dimension will be included in the study.”