meopar is yet again calling on researchers across canada to submit a letter of intent for our 2nd open call for research proposals. our 2013/2014 call is much larger this time around with a potential allocation of up to $4 million to support a number of projects across canada.

following the successful addition of three research projects in our first open call, meopar is looking to add even more innovative and cutting-edge projects to our network. projects must be multi-disciplinary  and align with our overall vision/goals as a network of centres of excellence.

letters of intent due january 10, 2014.

request for proposals:   literature review and research proposal development on the effectiveness of psychiatric service dogs in treating posttraumatic stress disorder (ptsd) in veterans.

there is increasing interest in the use of psychiatric service dogs (psds) for the treatment of ptsd among veterans. although the benefit of service dogs in performing functional tasks (e.g., seeing-eye dogs) has been examined, there is little research regarding the effectiveness of psds. veterans affairs canada (vac) requires evidence on the effectiveness of psds to support planning and decision making. in order to determine the feasibility of a major study on the topic, vac also requires options for a future research proposal. 

the canadian institute for military and veteran health research (cimvhr) has entered into a partnership with the government of canada to procure research and development services related to the social and physical wellbeing of active military members, veterans and their families. cimvhr is seeking notices of interest from researchers to enter into a contract to produce this work.

the successful candidate will have the following minimum qualifications:

• a phd in a relevant discipline and demonstrated experience in the areas required by the statement of work (as evidenced by current cv);
• demonstrated experience working in the area of veteran health research and an understanding of the unique mental health needs of canadian veteran populations
• demonstrated experience working in the area of current treatment options for posttraumatic stress disorder (ptsd);
• a faculty appointment at or formal affiliation with one of cimvhr’s 30 partner universities. for candidates not having this qualification a letter of sponsorship may be submitted along with their application from a faculty member in a relevant discipline who has this affiliation. details available from contracts manager. a list of partner universities is available at www.cimvhr.ca
• be able to meet project deliverables within the required timelines.

please see the statement of work (sow) for more details.

interested researchers may submit a notice of interest that includes:

• their cv
• a 1 page document (500 words max.) listing relevant experience.
• a draft project budget as per the requirements of the sow

please submit applications by december 20th , 2013 to: 

mike schaub,

contracts and publications manager

canadian institute for military and veteran health research

queen's university

phone: 613-533-6000 xt 79363

schaubm@queensu.ca

statement of work

title of work:

effectiveness of psychiatric service dogs in treating posttraumatic stress disorder (ptsd) in veterans.

1. veterans affairs canada (vac) requires evidence on the effectiveness of psychiatric service dogs (psds) to support planning and decision making. in order to determine the feasibility of a major study on the topic, vac requires options for a future research proposal.

background

2. there is increasing interest in the use of psychiatric service dogs for the treatment of ptsd among veterans. although the benefit of service dogs in performing functional tasks (e.g., seeing-eye dogs) has been examined, there is little research regarding the effectiveness of psds.

3. psds may assist individuals with psychiatric and neurological disabilities by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviour or mitigating behavioural disabilities in other ways.

4. the united states department of veterans affairs (usva) has undertaken a large-scale study involving 350 veterans to determine the effectiveness of psds. this study will be completed in 2016.

5. vac’s research directorate requires options for a future research study, learning from the work being carried out in the united states, to better assess the effectiveness of psds for veterans with ptsd.

objective

6. the goals of this study will be to:

a. assess the evidence base for the role of psds in the management of ptsd in military veterans.

b. develop options for a future research proposal to examine the effectiveness of psds in the treatment of ptsd in veterans.

scope

7. the researcher will be required to examine existing literature on the topic and prepare options for a future research proposal.

project timelines

8. project will begin as soon as possible after contract award and be completed no later than march 24th, 2014.

tasks

9. the contractor shall:

a. conduct a review of published scientific evidence to:

i. evaluate the strength of evidence and certainty of conclusions for this question: what is the strength of evidence for the efficacy, safety and cost-effectiveness of purpose-trained psds in the management of ptsd, what conclusions can be drawn, and what is the certainty of those conclusions?

ii. identify gaps in the existing evidence base.

iii. vac will share findings of prior literature reviews in this area.

b. describe options for a future research proposal, based on this research goal: to assess the effectiveness of psds in the treatment of ptsd in veterans

c. specifics related to a. and b. are available upon request as annex a and annex b.

deliverables

10. between the dates indicated, the contractor shall perform and complete the work and will produce the following deliverables:

a. a final report, documenting the approach to the evidence review, including the question, the methodology, the findings; and gaps in the existing evidence base as per annex a.

b. a document that describes options for a future research proposal, including research goal, research team, methods and budget as per annex b.

language of work

11. language of work is english.

travel

12. there are no travel requirements associated with this work. it is anticipated that all work can be conducted via teleconference or email or other mechanisms.

finance

13. remuneration for the work is based on education and experience. interested parties will be required to submit a budget estimate with their notice of interest and may request a copy of the basis of payment for the contract to determine the appropriate firm hourly rates for each labour resource identified in the budget. the total budget available for the work is $12,500 plus hst if applicable. details of the budget will be determined upon contract award.

project management

14. needs or requirements will be identified through the cimvhr contracts manager.

the purpose of this funding opportunity is to provide undergraduate and health professional 世界杯2022赛程表淘汰赛 with opportunities to undertake research projects with established health researchers in an environment that provides strong mentorship. in addition, the intent of the initiative is to develop human resources and expertise to facilitate the translational research objectives of cihr (including clinical research). furthermore, this opportunity targets the early stage of the student's academic training to encourage the pursuit of research in areas of strategic interest to cihr's institute of musculoskeletal health and arthritis (imha).

the specific objectives of this funding opportunity are:

• stimulate and support collaborative research that contributes to new knowledge and innovative approaches for addressing key health challenges affecting boys and men.
• build research capacity and nurture the next generation of researchers by supporting teams that actively engage trainees, new investigators (including researchers new to the topic), established researchers, and knowledge users.
• foster and support the ethical translation of knowledge through interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral collaborations between researchers and knowledge users to contribute to programs, interventions, and evidence-informed policy decisions for improving boys’ and men’s health.

the spor network in primary and integrated health care innovations is a key cihr initiative under the strategy for patient-oriented research and the community-based primary health care signature initiative.

the strategy for patient-oriented research (spor) aims to foster patient-oriented research and evidence-informed health care by bringing innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to the point of care, so as to ensure greater quality, accountability, and accessibility of care. spor networks are a key mechanism to achieve the strategy's primary objective and aim to generate evidence and innovations that advance practice and policy changes, leading to transformative and measurable improvements in health, health care and the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. a spor network is a collaboration of patients, health service providers, policy/decision makers, and health researchers across canada who work together to conduct research that produces information that responds to the needs of patients. 

the community-based primary health care (cbphc) signature initiative supports highly innovative approaches to improving the delivery of appropriate and high-quality community-based primary health care to canadians in two priority areas: chronic disease prevention and management in cbphc and access to appropriate cbphc for vulnerable populations. it will achieve this objective through three key funding mechanisms; cbphc innovation teams, the spor network in primary and integrated health care innovations, and salary awards.

this funding opportunity focuses on the spor network in primary and integrated health care innovations. its purpose is to support network development funds to facilitate member network development and inclusion in the spor network in primary and integrated health care innovations. 

what is the spor network in primary and integrated health care innovations?

the spor network in primary and integrated health care innovations is a network of networks that builds on provincial/territorial/federal networks and national assets in community-based primary health care. it will foster a new alliance between research, policy and practice to create dynamic and responsive learning networks that develop, evaluate and scale up new approaches to the delivery of integrated and cost-effective services across and beyond sectors of health care; and contribute to improved health, health equity, and health system outcomes. the network's overall goal is to support evidence-informed transformation and delivery of more cost-effective and integrated health care to improve clinical, population health, health equity, and health system outcomes.

the network is rooted in community-based primary health care (cbphc), which comprises a broad range of primary prevention and primary care services horizontally integrated within the community (including public health, community pharmacy services, rehabilitation support, home care and more), and which is recognized as playing an essential role in addressing the health care challenges of this century. recognizing the importance of facilitating transitions across the care continuum, the spor network in primary and integrated health care innovations incorporates a focus on horizontal integration of cbphc services and vertical system integration through primary, secondary, tertiary, and long-term care. a critical and novel aspect included in this scope is the assessment of upstream predictors of high need that enable the identification and targeting of prevention strategies and the engagement of sectors within and outside of health.

network's priority focus:

the network will initially focus on new approaches to the delivery of integrated health care (including primary prevention and primary health care) both horizontally and vertically across the care continuum to address:

• individuals with complex needs across the life course, showing capacity to evolve the network's scope over time to include age groups from children to older adults; and,
• multi-sector integration of upstream prevention strategies and care delivery models. a key element of this focus is the assessment of upstream predictors of high system use and subsequent identification and targeting of prevention strategies and interventions. 

within these priority focus areas, the network will support research that addresses horizontal and integrated care priorities shared by several provinces/territories/federal jurisdictions and where there is value-added in a cross-jurisdictional approach, including:

• knowledge of the comparative effectiveness and efficiency of different jurisdictional approaches to the same challenge;
• more rapid and/or generalizable response to a priority area by employing a cross-jurisdictional approach; and/or
• a more comprehensive evaluation of a priority area through the use of expertise and resources in multiple jurisdictions.

the specific objectives of this funding opportunity are:

• support the creation and further development of formal member networks in provincial, territorial and federal jurisdictions that meet the membership requirements of the spor network in primary and integrated health care innovations; and,
• support member networks to meet the requirements for integration into the spor network in primary and integrated health care innovations.

the specific objectives of this funding opportunity are to:

• encourage and enable individuals who have obtained a health-related phd to pursue an mba;
• develop a cadre of management-trained scientists;
• train scientists to recognize and manage health research innovations;
• build canadian capacity in careers that support commercialization;
• foster an entrepreneurial culture within and around the health research community in canada;
• promote economic development through health research in canada;
• support the application of health research results to improve the health of canadians.

this funding opportunity is designed to support a national network organized to:

• identify instances where canadian model organism expertise is relevant to a newly discovered disease gene. when such instances are found, a research project would be initiated to explore the functional characterization of the gene. on an annual basis, it is anticipated that this network would catalyze between 15-20 catalytic research projects per year.
• develop and implement innovative knowledge translation strategies/activities to link the clinical genetics and model organism research communities together.

the specific objectives of this funding opportunity are:

• develop a formal organizational infrastructure to facilitate collaborative research among vaccine and immunization researchers, clinicians, public health professionals, and policy makers;
• create and strengthen links and facilitate two-way knowledge exchange among vaccine and immunization researchers, and between these researchers and decision makers, by improving established knowledge exchange and policy development mechanisms;
• develop and test methodologies to test vaccines in areas such as safety, short- and long-term effectiveness and protection, and adverse reactions;
• examine vaccine hesitancy and develop strategies to address it;
• evaluate current immunization programs for coverage and effectiveness;
• create and support a rapid response research capacity; and
• train the next generation of vaccine and immunization researchers.