[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 119 (Friday, June 20, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36992-36995]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-15579]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Announcement of Availability of Funds for Adolescent Family Life 
Research Grants

AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the 
Secretary, Office of Public Health and Science, Office of Population 
Affairs.

ACTION: Notice.

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    AUTHORITY: Section 2008 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act.
    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Office of Population Affairs (OPA) requests 
applications for grants for applied research addressing Adolescent 
Family Life (AFL) program goals related to adolescent sexual relations, 
pregnancy, and parenthood: Helping adolescents avoid health risk 
behaviors; ensuring that adolescents have the supports necessary to 
pursue healthy and productive lives; and strengthening families. Grant 
awards will be made to investigate one or more of the following seven 
areas: (1) Parent involvement and communication; (2) youth development/
developmental assets; (3) pro-social risk behaviors; (4) adoption; (5) 
adolescent parents; (6) long term impact of adolescent childbearing on 
family structure; and (7) influences on adolescent premarital sexual 
behavior.

DATES: To receive consideration, a package containing a signed 
typewritten application, including the checklist, and two photocopies 
of the application must be received at the address below no later than 
July 22, 2003.

ADDRESSES: The application package described above must be submitted 
to: Center for Scientific Review, National Institutes of Health, 6701 
Rockledge Drive, Room 1040-MSC 7710, Bethesda, MD 29892-7710 (20817 for 
express/courier service).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title XX of the Public Health Service Act, 
in section 2008 (42 U.S.C. 300z-7), authorizes research concerning the 
societal causes and consequences of adolescent premarital sexual 
relations, pregnancy and child rearing. The statute also provides 
authority for research to identify effective services which alleviate, 
eliminate, or resolve any negative consequences of adolescent 
premarital sexual relations and adolescent childbearing for the 
parents, the child, and their families. Regulations pertaining to 
grants for research projects are set out at 42 CFR part 52.
    CFDA: A description of the Title XX Adolescent Family Life Research 
Grant Program can be found at OMB Catalogue of Federal Domestic 
Assistance No. 93.111.

I. Funding Opportunity Description

    This announcement seeks proposals for grants for applied research 
addressing AFL program goals related to adolescent premarital sexual 
relations, pregnancy, and parenthood: Helping adolescents avoid health 
risk behaviors; ensuring that adolescents have the supports necessary 
to pursue healthy and productive lives; and strengthening families.

Background

    The Adolescent Family Life (AFL) Program was enacted in 1981 as 
title XX of the Public Health Service Act. The program supports two 
types of demonstration projects: (1) Prevention demonstration projects 
to develop, implement, and evaluate programs that provide sexuality 
education designed to prevent adolescent premarital sexual relations 
and other health risk behaviors; and (2) care demonstration projects to 
develop, implement and evaluate interventions (including presenting 
adoption as an option) with pregnant and parenting adolescents 
including fathers, their infants, and other family members in an effort 
to alleviate the negative consequences of adolescent childbearing. The 
program is also authorized to conduct both basic and applied research 
on the causes and consequences of adolescent premarital sexual 
relations, adolescent pregnancy and parenting.

Purposes of the Grant

    The purpose of this grant is to expand the research base in a 
number of areas that are directly applicable to prevention and care 
program interventions for adolescents. To that end, this announcement 
invites applications in one or more of the following areas:

[[Page 36993]]

    1. Parent Involvement and Communication. Research has shown the 
importance of parents' involvement with their children and open 
communication between parent and child in the prevention of adolescent 
premarital sexual activity, pregnancy and sexually transmitted 
infection, as well as other adolescent risk behaviors. Many 
interventions designed to reduce these risks have thus added specific 
components for parents. Unfortunately, efforts to enroll and retain 
parents in these programs have too often been unsuccessful. Careful 
examination of recruitment strategies, and the interventions 
themselves, should provide insights on how to more effectively 
implement these program components. Research questions of interest 
include, but are not limited to:
    [sbull] Factors that affect recruitment and retention of parents in 
prevention programs for adolescents.
    [sbull] Evaluations of strategies or interventions designed to 
assist parents in effectively communicating with their children about 
sexuality issues.
    [sbull] Mechanisms and/or venues for educating parents on 
adolescent development, the importance of parental expectations and 
boundary setting, and sexuality issues.
    2. Youth Development/Developmental Assets. The Youth Development or 
Developmental Assets approach, either by itself or in combination with 
sexuality education, is increasingly used in programs designed to 
prevent adolescent sexual activity, pregnancy and sexually transmitted 
infection or other risk behaviors and negative outcomes. Strategies 
encompass strengthening families, fostering lasting relationships with 
adult mentors, involving youth in community service, promoting 
connectedness with school, providing opportunities to engage in sports 
and cultural activities, building confidence and self-efficacy; all are 
designed to strengthen supports, either internal or external, for youth 
as they transition to adulthood. Research questions of interest 
include, but are not limited to:
    [sbull] Incorporating youth development concepts into risk 
avoidance interventions for adolescents.
    [sbull] Impact of youth development strategies on adolescent 
premarital sexual relations and other health risk behaviors.
    [sbull] Impact of youth development strategies (e.g., education, 
vocational training, employment) on transition to self-sufficiency and 
other positive outcomes for adolescent parents.
    3. Pro-Social Risk Behaviors. It is well established that some 
amount of risk taking in adolescence is normative in that it helps 
define and develop identity. While risk taking is part of the normal 
developmental spectrum for adolescents, risk behaviors fall into two 
broad categories: Those that are associated with negative consequences 
such as drug, tobacco and alcohol use, sexual activity and violence as 
opposed to those that are associated with more positive outcomes--pro-
social risk behaviors such as athletics, academic endeavors, or 
community service. Research questions of interest include, but are not 
limited to:
    [sbull] The impact on adolescent sexual behavior of programs 
offering pro-social risk behavior activities.
    [sbull] Whether adolescents actively reject taking negative health 
risks when offered appealing pro-social risk behavior activities.
    [sbull] Whether offering pro-social risk behavior activities can 
reverse established negative risk behaviors.
    4. Adoption. Adoption is a positive option for unmarried pregnant 
adolescents who are unable to care for their infants, yet available 
data indicate this option is seldom chosen. Prior research suggests 
that attitudes about adoption--by family members, the father of the 
infant, the pregnant adolescent herself, or the professional providing 
counseling--can often have great influence on the young mother's 
decision-making. Other factors of importance include the costs and 
benefits of the adoption decision for all involved, as well as the 
implications of the various types of adoption that are available. Areas 
of inquiry include, but are not limited to:
    [sbull] Social, psychological, legal and service dimensions of 
adoption decision-making.
    [sbull] Social, economic, and/or psychological effects of adoption 
on the adolescent mother, the child, and/or the adoptive family.
    [sbull] Usage and differential outcomes for the adolescent mother, 
the child, and/or the adoptive family among formal, informal, closed 
and open adoption arrangements.
    5. Adolescent Parents. The consequences of adolescent pregnancy and 
parenthood are well documented. Adolescent parents are less likely to 
complete their schooling, their employment prospects and income are 
concomitantly reduced, and they are more likely to be single parents. 
In addition, their children are more likely to have poor health status, 
poor educational outcomes, behavior problems, and to become adolescent 
parents themselves than are children born to older parents. Appropriate 
and adequate services for these adolescent parents and their children, 
however, do hold some promise for ameliorating these disadvantages. 
Research questions of interest include, but are not limited to:
    [sbull] Preparation for building committed adult relationships and 
strong marriages.
    [sbull] Evaluation of strategies or interventions to provide 
necessary support services (e.g., health, education, social) to 
adolescent parents and their children.
    [sbull] Factors influencing continuation of schooling for 
adolescent parents and/or evaluation of strategies to promote school 
retention or return for adolescent parents.
    [sbull] Factors influencing successful parenting by adolescents 
and/or evaluation of strategies to promote successful parenting by 
adolescents.
    6. Long Term Impact of Adolescent Childbearing on Family Structure. 
The negative impact of adolescent pregnancy and childbearing on 
schooling, employment, income and health are well documented in the 
research literature. Another important area of inquiry, not as well 
studied, is the effect of adolescent parenthood on the structure and 
function of the young families created by this early, and most often, 
out-of-wedlock childbearing. Research topics of interest include, but 
are not limited to:
    [sbull] The impact of adolescent out-of-wedlock childbearing on the 
likelihood of marriage and the stability of marriage.
    [sbull] Types of support systems and their viability, other than 
marriage, for adolescent parents.
    [sbull] The level of satisfaction with parenting, over time, 
experienced by adolescent parents.
    7. Influences on Adolescent Premarital Sexual Behavior. An 
important component in developing effective interventions to prevent 
adolescent premarital sexual activity, pregnancy and sexually 
transmitted infection is an understanding of the factors that influence 
adolescent sexual behavior. While research over the past few decades 
has contributed substantially to this understanding, the complexity and 
variability of these factors--and the interplay among them--still 
warrants continued study. For the purposes of this announcement, such 
factors include, but are not limited to:
    [sbull] Demographic, economic, social and psychological 
characteristics of the adolescent.
    [sbull] Family, peers, media, and other social factors.

[[Page 36994]]

    [sbull] An older sibling who is an adolescent parent.
    [sbull] Community, neighborhood, school, faith-based organizations 
and other social institutions.

II. Award Information

    The OPA intends to make available approximately $750,000 in Fiscal 
Year (FY) 2003 to support an estimated 3 to 4 new research grants, up 
to a maximum of $250,000 each--including both direct and indirect 
costs. Section 2008(a)(3) of the Public Health Service Act stipulates 
that a grant for any one year period may not exceed $100,000 for the 
direct costs of conducting research activities. However, this 
limitation may be waived if we determine that exceptional circumstances 
warrant such waiver and that the project will have national impact. 
(Although section 2008(a)(3) also allows for waiver of this limitation 
where limited demonstration projects are conducted in order to provide 
data for research, the OPA does not intend to fund such projects under 
this announcement.) OPA intends to fund research under this 
announcement only if it will have national impact. Therefore, 
applications will be reviewed for research that will have national 
impact and, in cases where direct costs exceed the $100,000 limit, 
whether the applicant has established that those costs constitute an 
exceptional circumstance because they are necessary to carry out the 
research project.
    Grants will be funded in annual increments (budget periods) and may 
be funded for a project period of up to three years. A match of non-
Federal funds will not be required. Funding for all approved budget 
periods beyond the first year is contingent upon the availability of 
funds, satisfactory progress on the project, and adequate stewardship 
of Federal funds.
    The OPA, subject to the availability of funds, intends to convert 
this Request for Applications (RFA) to a Standing Announcement, with 
one annual application receipt date of January 15, beginning in FY 
2004.

III. Eligibility Information

    Any public agency or private non-profit or for-profit organization 
or institution of higher education which may be located in any State, 
the District of Columbia, or any United States territory, commonwealth, 
or possession, is eligible to apply for a grant under this 
announcement. Faith-based organizations are eligible to apply for these 
Adolescent Family Life research grants.

IV. Application and Submission Information

    Applications must be submitted on the research application form PHS 
398 (revised 5/01) available in the business or grants and contracts 
office at most academic and research institutions; this form is also 
available online at: http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm.
    Applicants are encouraged to read all PHS Form 398 instructions 
prior to preparing an application in response to this announcement.
    As explained in the form PHS 398 instructions, the RFA label, 
available in the PHS 398 application form, must be stapled to the 
bottom of the face page of the application and must display the RFA 
title. In addition, the RFA title must be typed on line 2 of the face 
page of the application form and the YES box must be marked.
    To receive consideration, applications must be received by the 
Center for Scientific Review, NIH, by the deadline listed in the Dates 
section of this announcement, July 22, 2003. Applications will be 
considered as meeting the deadline if they are postmarked on or before 
the deadline date and are received in time for orderly processing. A 
legibly dated receipt from a commercial carrier or U.S. Postal Service 
will be accepted in lieu of a postmark. Private metered postmarks will 
not be accepted as proof of timely mailing. Applications meeting the 
eligibility criteria, application content criteria and deadline will be 
notified via the PHS-3038-1, Application Receipt Record. Applications 
that do not meet the deadline will not be accepted for review, and will 
be returned. Applications sent via facsimile or by electronic mail will 
not be accepted for review.
    Prospective applicants are asked to submit a letter of intent that 
includes a descriptive title of the proposed research, the name, 
address, and telephone number of the Principal Investigator, and the 
title of this RFA. Although a letter of intent is not required, is not 
binding, and does not enter into the review of a subsequent 
application, the information that it contains allows OPA staff to 
estimate the potential review workload and plan the review.
    The letter of intent should be sent to Eugenia Eckard, at the 
address listed under the ``Agency Contacts'' section below, by June 23, 
2003.

Review Under Executive Order 12372

    This program is not subject to the review requirements of Executive 
Order 12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs.''

Program Requirements/Application Content

    This notice seeks applications for applied research addressing 
Adolescent Family Life program goals. Applications should include the 
following:
    (1) A well-organized statement of the problem to be addressed;
    (2) A detailed description of the research design;
    (3) The conceptual framework within which the design has been 
developed;
    (4) The methodology to be employed;
    (5) The evidence upon which the analysis will rely; and
    (6) The manner in which the evidence will be analyzed.
    Applications should also clearly address how findings from the 
proposed study will have direct application for programs designed to 
prevent premarital adolescent sexual activity and promote adolescent 
and family health and well being.

V. Application Review Information

    Eligible applications in response to this announcement will be 
reviewed, in competition with other submitted applications, by a panel 
of independent peer reviewers and assessed according to the following 
criteria:
    (1) Scientific Merit. Are the conceptual framework, design, 
methods, and analyses adequately developed and appropriate to the goals 
of the project? (25 points)
    (2) Significance. Will a scientific advance result if the project 
is carried out? Does the project employ novel concepts, approaches, or 
methods? (25 points)
    (3) Feasibility and Likelihood of Producing Meaningful Results. Are 
the plans for organizing and carrying out the project, including the 
responsibilities of key staff, the time line, and the proposed project 
period, adequately specified and appropriate? (20 points)
    (4) Competency of Staff. Are the principal investigator, and other 
key research staff, appropriately trained and well suited to carry out 
this project? (10 points)
    (5) Adequacy of Facilities and Resources. Are the facilities and 
resources of the applicant institution and other study sites adequate? 
(10 points)
    (6) Adequacy of Budget. Is the budget reasonable and adequate in 
relation to the proposed project? (10 points)
    Each of these criteria will be addressed and considered by the 
reviewers in assigning the overall score. Final grant award decisions 
will be made by the Deputy Assistant Secretary

[[Page 36995]]

for Population Affairs on the basis of priority score, program 
relevance, and availability of funds.

VI. Award Administration Information

    OPA does not release information about individual applications 
during the review process until final funding decisions have been made. 
When these decisions have been made, applicants will be notified by 
letter regarding the outcome of their applications. The official 
document notifying an applicant that an application has been approved 
and granted funding is the Notice of Grant Award, which specifies to 
the grantee the amount of money awarded, the purpose of the grant, and 
the terms and conditions of the grant award.

VII. Agency Contacts

    Direct inquiries regarding programmatic issues to: Eugenia Eckard, 
Office of Population Affairs, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 700, 
Rockville, MD 20852; (301) 594-4001; or via Email at 
[email protected].
    Direct inquiries regarding fiscal and administrative matters to: 
Karen Campbell, Office of Grants Management, Office of Public Health 
and Science, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 550, Rockville, MD 20852; 
(301) 594-0758; or via Email at [email protected].

    Dated: June 16, 2003.
Alma L. Golden,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs.
[FR Doc. 03-15579 Filed 6-19-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-30-P