Understanding Expectancies in Cancer Symptom Management (R01 Clinical Trial Required) | PAR 23 273

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 23 273

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), within the National Institutes of Health, is soliciting research grant applications under the R01 mechanism for a clinical trial required opportunity titled "Understanding Expectancies in Cancer Symptom Management." The goal is to fund mechanistic studies that explain how expectancy effects arise in cancer care, why they occur, and how they can be used to improve symptom management and related outcomes. In this context, "expectancies" refers to beliefs about future outcomes, including what a patient thinks will happen in response to cancer itself or to cancer treatment. The NOFO is focused on expectancy effects as real, measurable cognitive, behavioral, and biological changes that stem from those beliefs, and it treats expectancy as something that can be shaped by social, psychological, environmental, and broader systemic factors.

A central theme of the opportunity is moving beyond simple observations that expectations matter, and instead pinpointing the mechanisms that connect expectancies to outcomes in cancer symptom management. Applicants are expected to investigate how expectancy effects work in specific cancer-related settings, and to identify which patients, which symptoms, which cancer sites, and which clinical or social contexts are most likely to benefit from leveraging expectancies. The NOFO also emphasizes that expectancies are not limited to what patients believe; expectancy effects may be generated by the expectations held by clinicians, family members, caregivers, and dyads or social networks around the patient. In practical terms, this invites research that examines interpersonal and system-level influences on expectations, such as communication patterns, care environments, and culturally shaped interpretations of illness and treatment, and then links those influences to downstream symptom outcomes.

Because this is an R01 clinical trial required announcement, the projects supported are expected to involve clinical trial elements rather than being purely observational or preclinical. The intent is to support research designs that can test hypothesized mechanisms and pathways, for example by manipulating or systematically influencing expectancy-related factors and measuring resulting symptom changes and biological or behavioral mediators. While the NOFO text provided does not list specific symptom targets, the framing around "cancer symptom management" commonly includes issues such as pain, fatigue, nausea, sleep disturbance, anxiety, depression, cognitive complaints, and other treatment- or disease-related symptom burdens. The defining feature here is that the research should clarify how expectancies translate into symptom changes and under what conditions those effects can be reliably and ethically used to improve patient outcomes.

NCI highlights a strong interest in applications that enroll individuals and groups from populations historically underrepresented or excluded from biomedical and behavioral research. This emphasis signals that proposed studies should be attentive to who is included in research, how recruitment and retention will be achieved, and how expectancy processes might differ across populations due to differences in care access, prior experiences with healthcare, cultural beliefs, discrimination or bias, language, trust, and other contextual drivers. Projects that are designed to reach communities that have traditionally been left out, and that can generate insights relevant to equity in cancer symptom management, align closely with the priorities described.

Eligibility for this discretionary grant opportunity is broad. Eligible applicants include a range of government entities (state, county, city/township, special districts), independent school districts, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, and federally recognized Native American tribal governments, as well as Native American tribal organizations that are not federally recognized governments. Higher education institutions are eligible in both public/state-controlled and private categories. Nonprofits may apply whether they have 501(c)(3) status or not (so long as they are not institutions of higher education), and for-profit organizations other than small businesses are eligible alongside small businesses. The announcement also explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant types and organizational categories, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations), Indian/Native American Tribal Governments that are not federally recognized, and U.S. territories or possessions. This breadth is consistent with encouraging multidisciplinary, multi-setting research that can be conducted in clinical systems, community contexts, and diverse geographic regions.

Key administrative details in the source information include the funding opportunity number PAR-23-273 and the CFDA (now commonly referred to as Assistance Listing) number 93.393. The posting date is listed as 2023-08-10, and the original closing date is 2026-05-07. An award ceiling is not specified in the provided data, and the expected number of awards is not listed, which typically means applicants should rely on the NOFO and NIH standard R01 policies and institute-specific guidance for budget expectations, project period norms, and anticipated funding levels. Overall, this opportunity is aimed at rigorous, mechanism-driven clinical trial research that can explain and ethically harness expectancy effects to improve cancer symptom experiences, with a clear push toward inclusive enrollment and relevance to populations that have been historically underrepresented in research.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Understanding Expectancies in Cancer Symptom Management (R01 Clinical Trial Required)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.393.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-08-10.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2026-05-07. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for PAR 23 273

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: