# Mentored patient-oriented research that applies a social determinants of health lens to promote optimal developmental and behavioral health in primary care

> **NIH NIH K24** · RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES · 2024 · $173,083

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
School entry is an important developmental stage during the life course. Developmental and behavioral health
at this stage, which includes cognitive, communication, and social-emotional development, are powerful
predictors of later educational attainment, a social determinant of health (SDOH), and long-term health and
wellbeing. Pediatric professionals in primary care have near-universal access to young children, frequent
contact with their families, and opportunities to build trusted caregiver-clinician relationships making primary
care the right place to support optimal developmental and behavioral health. Neuroplasticity makes early
childhood the right time to intervene since developmental and behavioral health promotion interventions can
have large effects during this developmental stage. However, to date, healthcare interventions have largely
missed the opportunity to support optimal developmental and behavioral health in primary care settings.
Primary care literacy promotion, a pediatric standard of care supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics
and the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, represents an exception and is an exemplar
prevention and health promotion intervention that can promote optimal developmental and behavioral health at
scale. However, prior work by our team and others points to inconsistent implementation that threatens to
dilute its impact. Patient-oriented research that applies SDOH and prevention and health promotion lenses is
needed to help address this gap. The overall objectives of this K24 application are to provide Dr. Manuel E.
Jimenez with mentorship-focused protected time to: (1) augment his research capabilities building on his
funded patient-oriented research program that uses community-engaged research and implementation science
to address SDOH in primary care, and (2) mentor the next generation of interprofessional clinician
investigators and enhance their capabilities to apply SDOH and prevention and health promotion lenses on
patient-oriented research. To achieve these objective Dr Jimenez proposes the following specific aims: (1) To
examine which literacy promotion components are most important and why from the perspective of literacy
promotion experts and caregivers, (2) To identify consensus on literacy promotion core components among
intervention experts and other key partners including families, and (3) to develop an intervention that supports
tailored literacy promotion implementation strategies and test the feasibility of the intervention in community
health centers. The application addresses multiple NINR priority areas and will help train the next generation of
clinician scientists in SDOH, health equity, community health, and intervention research that positively impacts
practice and policy (NOT-NR-21-001) to help address the pressing health challenges facing the nation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10864260
- **Project number:** 1K24NR021198-01
- **Recipient organization:** RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Manuel E Jimenez
- **Activity code:** K24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $173,083
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-05-01 → 2029-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10864260

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10864260, Mentored patient-oriented research that applies a social determinants of health lens to promote optimal developmental and behavioral health in primary care (1K24NR021198-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10864260. Licensed CC0.

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