Measures and Methods for Research on Family Caregivers for People Living with Alzheimers Disease and Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA AG 23 022

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AG 23 022

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity RFA-AG-23-022 is a discretionary grant program that supports Research Project Grant (R01) applications focused on improving how research captures and measures family caregiving for people living with Alzheimers disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD). The core aim is methodological: applicants are expected to develop, refine, or validate measures and research methods that reflect expanded, real-world definitions of "family" and related concepts that shape informal caregiving. In practical terms, this opportunity is about making caregiver research more accurate and inclusive by ensuring studies do not rely on overly narrow assumptions about who counts as family, how caregiving roles are organized, and how caregiving responsibilities and supports actually function across different communities and living arrangements.

A central emphasis of the FOA is the recognition that informal caregiving for AD/ADRD often involves complex networks that may extend beyond traditional nuclear family structures. The announcement encourages methods and measures that better capture these realities, which can include chosen family, non-marital partners, multi-household support systems, kinship networks, and culturally specific caregiving arrangements. The intention is to strengthen the evidence base by improving how caregiving is defined and measured so that findings are more comparable across studies, more representative of diverse populations, and more useful for understanding caregiver experiences, needs, burdens, and protective factors.

Beyond developing new measures, the FOA also explicitly supports the implementation of these measures in both new and existing studies. That means applicants can propose to integrate improved family and caregiving constructs into ongoing cohorts, surveys, registries, or other research platforms, or design new studies that incorporate these tools from the start. This implementation component is important because it pushes projects beyond conceptual work and into applied research practice, enabling the field to test, harmonize, and disseminate better measurement approaches that can be used widely in AD/ADRD caregiving research.

This is an R01 mechanism, which typically supports well-developed research projects with a clear plan, strong rationale, and an appropriate level of readiness. The FOA notes that projects that are especially high risk and high payoff, particularly those lacking preliminary data, may be better suited to the companion funding opportunity RFA-AG-23-023, which uses the R21 exploratory/developmental mechanism. In other words, RFA-AG-23-022 is positioned for more fully articulated, scalable work, while the companion R21 is meant for earlier-stage, more speculative development. The two announcements are designed to complement each other by supporting both exploratory measure development (R21) and more mature methodological and implementation efforts (R01).

The opportunity is designated "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," which signals that applications should not propose clinical trials as defined by NIH. Applicants should design studies that focus on measurement development, validation, and research implementation rather than testing clinical interventions or assigning participants to intervention conditions. Even when caregiver-related outcomes are involved, the work should remain within the boundaries of methods and measures research rather than intervention efficacy testing.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of domestic organizations and institutions, such as state, county, and local governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; independent school districts; special district governments; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) and small businesses; and other categories. The FOA also highlights additional eligible applicants that often align with NIH efforts to support inclusive participation and research capacity, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations), and U.S. territories or possessions. This breadth suggests NIH is encouraging applications that can speak to varied caregiving contexts, including those shaped by culture, geography, and structural factors.

Administratively, the funding falls under the Health activity category and is associated with CFDA number 93.866. The opportunity was created on 2022-06-09 with an original closing date of 2022-10-20. The source information provided does not specify an award ceiling or expected number of awards, so applicants would typically rely on the full FOA text and NIH budget guidance for details on allowable costs, project period, and budgeting expectations under the R01 mechanism.

Overall, RFA-AG-23-022 is aimed at advancing the scientific foundation of AD/ADRD caregiver research by improving the basic tools researchers use to define and measure family caregiving. By supporting both the development of better measurement approaches and their integration into real studies, the FOA seeks to produce methods that are more inclusive, more culturally and socially accurate, and more useful for generating evidence that can inform future research, services, and policies affecting caregivers and people living with dementia.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Measures and Methods for Research on Family Caregivers for People Living with Alzheimers Disease and Related Dementias (AD/ADRD) (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-06-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-10-20. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA AG 23 022

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