Building Evidence: Effective Palliative/End of Life Care Interventions

National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) invites applications for research that develops and tests optimal palliative and end-of-life care interventions (models of care) based on measurable outcomes. Palliative Care and End-of-Life (PCEOL) interventions are increasingly needed for all individuals with Life Limiting Illnesses (LLI's) in some form or other, including those who are culturally diverse or aging. Adverse impacts have been shown to extend to the caregivers and families of patients with LLIs. Many individuals with LLI's also may concurrently be suffering from multiple complex comorbidities (MCC's), placing an increasing burden on health, health systems and costs.  Few prospective interventions/models of care, especially those utilizing a randomized trial design, are testing the effectiveness of palliative and end-of-life care interventions. A wide variability exists among interventions delivered under the umbrella of palliative or end-of-life care. In addition, a variety of outcomes are being (or have been) assessed by different studies, when increasingly, the scientific need in this area is to examine and test a finite number of key outcomes (i.e., health, morbidity, quality of life, satisfactionwith care) that are comparable across trials, studies, and programs. This FOA will use the NIH Research Project award mechanism.