NIH NOSI: Improving Adherence to Treatment and Prevention Regimens and Maintenance of Health Behaviors to Promote Health

Notice Number: NOT-OD-24-146

Deadline: July 14, 2027

Purpose

This Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is being re-issued by the NIH Adherence Network through the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), with participation from multiple NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices. This NOSI calls for research grant applications that address adherence to recommended treatment and prevention regimens or maintenance of behaviors to promote positive health outcomes (collectively referred to as health behaviors). Applications may address health behavior initiation, execution, and/or persistence through mechanistic studies, efficacy trials, or implementation research. Descriptive studies and intervention research may address relevant determinants at one or more levels of ecologic influence, including the individual, caregiver/family, provider, healthcare system, and community levels. Approaches designed to reduce health disparities and improve equitable health outcomes are strongly encouraged.

Research Objectives

The objective of this NOSI is to encourage research grant applications that address adherence to recommended treatment and prevention regimens and maintenance of behaviors to promote health outcomes. Applications may address health behavior initiation, execution, and/or maintenance through mechanistic studies, efficacy trials, or implementation research. Descriptive and intervention research may address relevant determinants at one or more levels of ecologic influence, including the patient, caregiver/family, provider, healthcare system, and community levels. Approaches designed to reduce health disparities and improve equitable health outcomes are strongly encouraged.

Research projects that could be addressed in response to this NOSI include, but are not limited to, the following topics.

  • Research to advance novel tools or improve implementation of existing approaches to monitor adherence and long-term behavioral maintenance to facilitate delivery of timely interventions.
  • Research that identifies the mechanisms of action that support behavior change to improve adherence and maintenance.
  • Research to understand and address individual, social, and structural determinants of health contributing to inequities in adherence and associated health outcomes among NIH-designated health disparity populations, including racial and ethnic minority groups, sexual and gender minority (SGM) groups, people with disabilities, people with lower socioeconomic status (SES), and underserved rural communities.
  • Research examining interventions designed to optimize adherence and maintenance of health behaviors through caregivers, peers, or social support networks.
  • Studies of adherence-promoting behavior maintenance strategies that are delivered through technology tools, such as mobile health apps, mobile medical devices, and electronic health records.
  • Research testing the efficacy of interventions delivered at the healthcare provider or system-level that may facilitate patient adherence and maintenance of health behaviors.
  • Multilevel and multicomponent interventions (e.g., at the individual, healthcare provider, and community level) that improve adherence and behavioral maintenance.

More information and further priorities specific to participating Institutes, Centers, and Offices can be found on the opportunity webpage.