Concept Review by Council

Concepts for proposed Requests for Applications (RFA) are reviewed during the Open Session of Council. These are the features of the process:

• A brief concept description, written by the program staff proposing a grant solicitation, is posted on the Council website.
  
  
• Dr. Alexander will present the concepts during the Open Session. Program staff will be available to answer questions if called upon but, in general, will not participate in the presentation.
  
  
• Following brief presentation and discussion, Council members will be asked to indicate their opinion of each concept.
  
  
• Comments, suggestions, and Council advice will be recorded by NICHD staff.

This approach to concept review:

• Meets the NIH requirement for public presentation of concepts and the opportunity for public comment.
  
  
• Provides a wide spectrum of expertise for the consideration of concepts, including scientific, policy, and advocacy perspectives. The process should encourage the presentation and evaluation of broad concepts, without detailed or in-depth discussion of the specific science. Such discussion, typical when concepts are reviewed by a group with more narrowly focused expertise, goes well beyond the purpose of this review. Indeed, it places those involved in a potential conflict of interest situation that would prevent them from responding to a resultant RFA should they choose to do so.
  
  
• Enables the full Council to consider individual initiatives within the broader context of many planned initiatives, giving us the benefit of multiple perspectives in the overall planning of an NICHD research agenda.

For this meeting, one concepts were reviewed:

Evaluating the Health Benefits of Workplace Policies and Practices – Phase II

Evaluating the Health Benefits of Workplace Policies and Practices – Phase II

January 2007

A Request for Applications (RFA) for a Limited Competition is proposed entitled, "Evaluating the Health Benefits of Workplace Policies and Practices – Phase II." The proposed RFA will use the Cooperative Research Project (U01) award mechanism. Eligibility for this RFA will be limited to current awardees in Phase I of the program.

Purpose

The proposed RFA is designed to support the implementation and evaluation phase of the established NICHD-led Work, Family, and Health Network (WFHN). The stresses involved in work-family conflict have health consequences for parents and children; interventions in this major life area have the potential for broad impact. During the current three-year planning phase, the interdisciplinary network is synthesizing theory and methods from social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences to design a realistic intervention to ameliorate work-family conflict. Adding health assessments to this area of social and behavioral research is a true innovation. The Network is also unique because it has involved business community partners from its inception.

Scope

The scope of the proposed RFA is to implement the intervention in workplaces and evaluate the health benefits for workers, family members, and employers.

Objective

The objective of this RFA is to generate evidence about the existence of health benefits of an intervention in this domain that would inform future efforts in the academic and lay communities. This second phase will also include a sustainability component, where the Network will continue to work with the Employer and Employee Advisory Committees to refine the intervention in realistic ways and disseminate Network findings.

Program Contact

Rosalind King, Ph.D.
Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch