CIHR Pre-announcement: Implementation Science Teams – Strengthening Pandemic Preparedness in Long-Term Care funding opportunity

Sponsor

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Program

Implementation Science Teams

For More Information

Information webinar: All potential applicants are invited to register and participate in an information webinar on September 9, 2020 at 12:00pm ET.

Please visit the following website: https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/52118.html

Description

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is pleased to pre-announce the partnership and launch of the Implementation Science Teams – Strengthening Pandemic Preparedness in Long-Term Care Funding Opportunity. This initiative is being supported by the CIHR Institutes of Aging (IA), Circulatory and Respiratory Health (ICRH), Gender and Health (IGH), Health Services and Policy Research (IHSPR), Infection and Immunity (III), Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA), and Population and Public Health (IPPH), in partnership with the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation (NBHRF) and the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF).

Led by the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement (CFHI) and the Canadian Patient Safety Institute (CPSI), this funding opportunity will provide research funding to Implementation Science Teams to support evidence-informed implementation of a suite of promising practice interventions and policy options within and across Long-Term Care (LTC) and retirement homes in Canada, and to rigorously evaluate the process, outcomes and/or impacts of the interventions.

To ensure LTC and retirement homes are prepared for future potential pandemic outbreaks, CFHI and CPSI have identified a suite of six promising practices and policy options that can be implemented now to mitigate a repeat of the devastating effects caused in some homes by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. To support the implementation of these promising practices and policy interventions across facilities, CFHI and CPSI launched an initiative called LTC+: Acting on Pandemic Learning Together in July 2020. The LTC+: Acting on Pandemic Learning Together program involves LTC and retirement homes across Canada self-assessing against the six promising practices, setting goals for improvement, receiving support to achieve the goals, and assessing progress towards the goals.

Note: Implementation Science Teams (ISTs) will work in partnership with LTC and/or retirement homes through the LTC+: Acting on Pandemic Learning Together program to support the evidence-informed implementation of CFHI/CPSI’s promising practice and/or policy interventions and to rigorously evaluate the outcomes and impacts of the interventions.

Eligibility

The sponsor is encouraging all social science and humanities researchers to apply and contribute their expertise to this important initiative.

In order to be eligible to submit a full application, all applicants are required to register their intent to apply by September 14, 11:59pm ET

The Implementation Science Teams (ISTs) are expected to:

• Support evidence-informed implementation and sustainability of one or more the six defined promising practice and/or policy interventions within LTC/retirement homes; 
• Scientifically assess the implementation, adoption, and sustainability of the intervention(s), which are intended to mitigate the risk and consequences of future outbreaks of the COVID-19 pandemic;
• Provide greater understanding about which promising practice interventions and policy options and/or implementation and sustainability approaches are most effective, in which populations and contexts, and why;
• Build research capacity within the LTC/retirement home sector and facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations between the research community and the LTC/retirement home sector; 
• Foster knowledge translation and exchange throughout the research process to inform home-level improvement and implementation and sustainability efforts via the LTC+ Acting on Pandemic Learning Together initiative;
• Foster the use of high quality, real-time, actionable evidence by LTC/retirement homes and relevant policy makers during and beyond the pandemic to support the development of a rapid learning health system; and
• Apply a Sex- and Gender-Based Analysis ‘plus’ lens to the analyses, taking into consideration intersectional perspectives of healthcare workers, residents, families and caregivers from diverse cultural and racial backgrounds. 

Funding Availability

The total amount available for this funding opportunity is $1,480,000. This amount may increase if additional funding partners participate. 

The final funding opportunity will be published on both the CFHI website and the CIHR Funding Opportunity Database in ResearchNet in Summer 2020.

Maximum Project Value

The maximum CIHR amount per grant is up to $150,000 per year for a maximum of one year.

Additionally, $50,000 is available for the highest overall ranked fundable application that has self-identified as interested to lead the Common Measurement Framework Project.

Indirect Costs

There are no indirect costs.

Project Duration

One year.

Special Notes

Please note that research activities carried out in the context of COVID-19 need to adhere to the University of Guelph COVID-19 research principles, policies, guidelines and processes as they may be updated from time to time and communicated on the Office of Research web-page.

This pre-announcement of Implementation Science Teams – Strengthening Pandemic Preparedness in Long-Term Care Funding Opportunity is for information only. This information is subject to change and does not commit the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation, the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement or the Canadian Patient Safety Institute to the requirements outlined in this version.

How to Apply

LTC/retirement homes commenced registration for the LTC+ Acting on Pandemic Learning Together initiative on August 10th. Within this registration, LTC/retirement homes were asked to indicate their interest in working with the IST research teams and provide a contact for the research teams. Contact Lindsay Yarrow at CFHI to request the list of registered LTC/retirement homes. Alternatively, research teams can prompt LTC/retirement home teams who are not yet registered to register with LTC+ program and access all the associated programming and supports. There is no charge for registration or participation. Note: the LTC/retirement homes must register in the LTC+ Acting on Pandemic Learning Together initiative by the time of the IST application submission in order to be considered eligible for this funding opportunity.

Registration and full applications will be uploaded and processed through the CFHI website (https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/52118.html)