DoD Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Peer Support Program Translational Research Award

archived

This funding opportunity seeks applications to support examinations of efficacy and effectiveness of peer-to-peer support interventions to translate and integrate content into the everyday routines of SMs to enhance psychological health readiness and mitigate negative behavioral health issues including suicide behaviors. Applications should focus on research to evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of peer support programs that could be implemented in the military. Such interventions should leverage public health paradigms such as the social-ecological model, behavior change theory, and adult learning theory. Considerations such as how peer-to-peer support would accommodate military culture, including varied ranks and structure, gender, and occupation requirements should be taken into account. Interventions should be sensitive to the time and contextual constraints associated with occupation and lifestyle. Interventions that include an electronic or virtual component will be considered, but applicants should demonstrate that such components will ensure the interventions are interactive and engaging. Studies should consider ways to integrate content into the everyday routines of SMs to decrease burden and increase buy-in.

High