Pilot Effectiveness Trials of Peer Support Services for Suicide Prevention

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) intends to publish a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to solicit applications for research on the preliminary effectiveness of peer support intervention strategies for reducing suicide risk in clinical and community practice settings. In this pilot phase of effectiveness research, the trial should be designed to (1) evaluate the feasibility, tolerability, acceptability, safety, and potential effectiveness of the approach; (2) to address whether the intervention engages the factors presumed to underlie the intervention effects; and (3) to obtain preliminary data needed as a pre-requisite to a larger-scale effectiveness trial designed to definitively test the effectiveness of the intervention. Applications are not being solicited at this time. Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to develop meaningful collaborations and responsive projects. This NOFO will utilize the R01 activity code. Investigators with expertise and insights into developing and testing scalable and sustainable peer support interventions in clinical and community practice settings focused on suicide risk reduction are encouraged to consider applying for this new NOFO. In addition, collaborative investigations combining expertise in peer support models for suicide prevention, intervention development and clinical trials research methodology, and implementation science related to developing and testing suicide prevention strategies will be encouraged, and investigators with expertise in these areas should consider applying for this NOFO.

The following consideration will be used in determining projects to be funded: (1) Technical merit of the proposed project as determined by peer review; (2) Availability of funds; and (3) Relevance to program priorities.