Funding emerges to study the psychological impact of COVID-19

Funding agencies are issuing calls for grant proposals from psychologists and other behavioral and social science researchers to study how people are responding to the most alarming public health and economic crisis the world has experienced in the past 75 years.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been deployed to medical researchers to learn about the novel coronavirus, bolster public health systems, and develop treatments and vaccines. Now, as millions of people around the world are experiencing the stress and loneliness of self-isolation, job loss and even the death of loved ones, funders are looking ahead to the immediate and long-term impacts the pandemic will have on mental health. The COVID-19 crisis is also providing researchers with an unprecedented opportunity to explore psychological and social phenomena such as quarantine and forced telework on a mass scale.

Funding opportunities include:

• The National Science Foundation is soliciting pandemic-related research proposals to be funded up to $200,000 for a maximum duration of one year through its Rapid Response Research grant programopens in new window. Grant submission is still open. 
• The National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Aging announced administrative supplements or revisions to existing grantsopens in new window to investigate, among other things, how COVID-19-related changes in the social, economic, institutional and policy environments differentially impact the health and welfare of people across the life course and in vulnerable social groups. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis through May 1.
• The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) will soon be releasingopens in new window two time-limited Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs). The first will come out in April for teams that already have AHRQ grants to add information about how they are responding to COVID-19. The second will come out in May and will request new applications about how health systems are responding to COVID-19.
• The American Psychological Foundation will fund two grants of up to $20,000 each to fund pilot projects, additions to existing studies, and/or literature reviews that will help psychologists to work with individuals, families and groups who are struggling to cope during these challenging times. Applications are due May 1.

The National Institute of Drug Abuseopens in new window is also funding COVID-19 research on risks and outcomes for individuals with substance use disorders. Grant submission is closed for these grants.

“Many, many Americans likely are experiencing increased anxiety and feelings of isolation and sadness, and it is especially important that we understand how the needs of the most vulnerable in our society are or are not being met,” says David Meyers, MD, deputy director and chief physician at AHRQ. “An important goal of health services research is understanding the role of all clinicians, including psychologists, in helping the nation respond to the pandemic.” 

Among the research questions Meyers says psychologists and other clinicians could consider are: how providers are adjusting to new working conditions, telehealth and payment policies; how organizations that serve vulnerable populations are utilizing psychologists and psychology-related services during the pandemic; barriers that are preventing psychologists and other clinicians from providing care; and whether existing digital health records are helpful during the crisis.

For the Rapid grants, NSF is looking for “anything to do with information processing, whether at the individual or societal levels,” says Arthur Lupia, PhD, assistant director of NSF and head of the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate. “Also, subfields that can help individuals, families, communities and the nation as a whole cope with the present circumstance.”

Other government agencies around the world are also supporting psychology and social science research on COVID-19, including the Canadian Institutes of Health Researchopens in new window, Scotland's Chief Scientist Officeopens in new window, New Zealand's Health Research Council and Ministry of Healthopens in new window, the European Association of Social Psychologyopens in new window, and the Wellcome Trust in the United Kingdom.

Reflecting the quickly evolving nature of the pandemic, many funders are asking grantees to share their data quickly and openly and to publish the research findings rapidly. Some researchers will be sharing their findings directly with the public ahead of publication in the form of lay-friendly white papers describing best practices for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, as part of her Rapid Response Research award, Kristen Shockley, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Georgia, and her co-investigators plan to post a series of white papers describing remote work best practices to the websites of the Society for Human Resource Management and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

“Psychologists have an important role in learning how we can support people's mental health and keep their morale up during this time,” Shockley says.