Community and Place-Based Determinants of Health – CPDH
NOTE: Starts with the October 2026 Council round submission dates (Cycle I due dates). This study section was evaluated as part of CSR’s ENQUIRE process to align study sections with advances in science. Learn more about ENQUIRE.
Community and Place-Based Determinants of Health (CPDH) reviews applications that focus on measurable place-, space-, and community-level factors and determinants that impact the health of community residents or a population group. The focus of studies is on how aspects of space and place, such as neighborhood stressors, built or natural environments, home and community resources, local/state conditions, local retail markets, and shared community experiences are related to the health of the community and its residents. Applications can involve comparisons between and across similarly defined settings to capture differences in community- or place-related indicators. They can also involve testing of conceptual models, generating findings to inform intervention development (Stage 0), natural/pragmatic experiments whose aims are to study the impact of a place- or space-based factor, or understanding mechanisms of change post-intervention.
Review Dates
Topics
- Studies that identify place-based vulnerabilities or assets of a community
- Studies examining geospatial indicators, retail marketing or purchasing locations, local or state policies, food or housing access at the community level, built environments, that can disproportionately impact health
- Studies of the impact of local climate, environmental exposure on a variety of health outcomes at the community level. Studies emphasizing biological processes are reviewed elsewhere.
- Studies using community-based participatory methods to better define the community context for which health is impacted.
- Development of assessment instruments or data enhancements to define place- or community-related indicators.
Shared Interests and Overlaps
There are shared interests in the study of social and environmental factors on health with Social and Environmental Determinants of Health (SEDH). Applications that emphasize social and environmental determinants of health behaviors and health outcomes, focusing on broad exposures (e.g., neighborhood characteristics, natural disaster/climate concerns, general air/water pollution etc.) and their impact at the community or local/neighborhood level are reviewed in CPDH. Applications that emphasize the population-level impact of social and environmental exposures, where the focus is on more complex exposures (e.g., chemical mixtures/mixture analysis, pollution components, etc.) on biological or biobehavioral processes are reviewed in SEDH. For applications with a mix of exposures, the application’s primary emphasis will determine the study section of best fit.
There are shared interests in the study of space- and place-based influences on health with Population Dynamics and Health (PDAH) and Social Determinants of Behavioral, Cognitive, and Psychological Health (SBCP). Applications that emphasize the local context, specific built environment conditions, or at a smaller comparative scale (not at the broad population level) are reviewed in CPDH. Applications involving large-scale population-level data that seek to understand the impact of social processes and economic influences on population-focused outcomes are reviewed in PDAH or SBCP.
There are shared interests in the study of contextual and cultural influences on health with Psychosocial Influences on Healthy Development (PIHD), Social and Interpersonal Process of Health Disparities (SIPH). Applications that examine these influences from a community-level perspective and examine their impact at the broader community level are reviewed in CPDH. Applications that focus on the relationship of such influences on individual-level outcomes or processes are reviewed in PIHD or SIPH.
There are shared interests in exposure to toxicants and pollutants with Environmental Determinants of Disease (EDD). Applications that focus on the relationship between the environmental exposure and human health outcomes at the community level are reviewed in CPDH. Applications that focus on the pharmacological impact and toxicological mechanisms of the toxicant on human biological systems are reviewed in EDD.
