| Proposal Content and Programmatic Questions |
|
In addition to healthy eating, can we include physical activity to help prevent obesity?
The aim of the Healthy Eating Research program is to identify promising food policies and environments and the factors that affect them. You may evaluate food policies and environments as adjuncts to existing physical activity interventions, or collect data on physical activity for the purpose of clarifying the impact of energy intake interventions. We expect that the vast majority of the grant resources would be focused on healthy eating.
What age range are you most interested in within the 3- to 18-year-old age span covered in this CFP?
There is no one age range in which we are most interested.
Do you have a certain city or region size that you are looking for in terms of the project sites?
No, this is a national program and we hope to receive proposals from across the
Are rural populations considered to be underserved or special populations?
Yes, rural populations where risk of child obesity is high are of interest to Healthy Eating Research.
Will proposals that target communities with higher than the national average BMI be given consideration even if they are not lower-income or minority communities?
The goal of Healthy Eating Research is to improve healthy eating to reduce childhood obesity. Obesity rates are highest and rising fastest in lower-income and certain ethnic and racial populations. If your population includes neither lower-income nor racial and ethnic minority children, you will need to specify clearly in your proposal how your results will be relevant to these high-risk groups.
Are the criteria for addressing lower-income and racial and ethnic minority populations exclusive or mutual?
Your study can include lower-income and/or racial and ethnic minority populations at risk for obesity.
How is lower-income defined in this context?
Lower-income may be defined by the researcher since there are different ways to define and measure income levels. We do not have a specific cutoff for defining lower-income populations. However, there are benchmarks that might be useful to investigators. In child-care, school, preschool and after-school settings it is useful to use the measure of percentage of children living in households with incomes below 185 percent of the federal poverty line, a common threshold for meal and snack subsidies for federal nutrition assistance programs. In schools it is also useful to use the measure of proportion of students who are eligible for free and reduced-price school meals, as these are based on the federal poverty guidelines.
Are there specific evaluation methods that are preferred?
No, the evaluation methods and the analysis will be driven by the research question asked. There can be a variety of designs that could include epidemiologic, observation and measurement studies, secondary data analysis, analyses of the effect of natural variations in food policies and environments, as well as evaluating current programs and current policies. Survey research that might look at associations or correlations also could be included. Mixed design (qualitative and quantitative) studies are also welcome. However, studies involving only qualitative data collection (e.g., focus groups) will not be funded.
Can you please explain more about the requirement to include a representative of the community or stakeholder group targeted?
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is committed to funding programs that are responsive to the needs of communities. Healthy Eating Research requires grants to include at least one regular adviser from the population(s) of interest to help assure that research and policy analyses reflect critical institutional, community and policy needs and issues. Examples include community leaders, policy-makers, and school or child care officials.
Do community stakeholders need to be declared in the full proposal?
Yes, community stakeholders need to be identified in the full proposal. Applicants should include at least one representative of the community or stakeholder group targeted (e.g., community leader, policy-maker) as a regular adviser. Proposals should describe the input received from these stakeholders in designing the study and research questions, and the strategies that will be used to communicate research results.
|
