All USA USA Territories: American Samoa (USA); Guam (USA); Puerto Rico (USA); Virgin Islands (USA); Northern Mariana Islands (USA); USA Compact Free Associations:The Federated States of Micronesia (USA) Marshall Islands (USA) Republic of Palau (USA) International, Israel and Canada.
Grant to a USA, Canada, or International psychologist affiliated with a qualifying nonprofit institution for research to advance group psychotherapy. Funding is intended to support studies focused on small groups in naturalistic settings. Priority will be given to early career psychologists who are 10 years or less post-doctoral.
The APF Division 49 Group Psychotherapy Grant supports innovative group psychotherapy research applied to small groups in a naturalistic setting. In addition to the grant funds, the awardee receives a three-year membership to Division 49.
The Division 49 Group Psychotherapy Grant supports innovative group psychotherapy research applied to small groups in a naturalistic setting. This grant focuses primarily on groups in a therapeutic context. Issues such as effectiveness of different approaches to group therapy would fall under this area. Although this will often involve studies of group psychotherapy, it may also include other groups with health implications (e.g., support groups for smoking cessation, weight loss, etc.). Samples of topics appropriate for the group psychotherapy award include (but are not limited to):
Efficacy of group therapy for specific disorders
Impact of member individual differences, including gender, personality, prior duration of disorder, or comorbidity, on effectiveness of group therapy
Relative efficacy of different modes of therapy (e.g., comparing group to individual) or different communication styles (e.g., use of referential language) within or across disorders
The role of group climate in the effectiveness of group therapy
APF encourages applicants from diverse backgrounds with respect to age, race, color, religion, creed, nationality, ability, sexual orientation, gender, and geography. Applicants must:
• Be affiliated with nonprofit charitable, educational, and scientific institutions, or governmental entities operating exclusively for charitable and educational purposes
• Have a demonstrated knowledge of group psychology and/or group psychotherapy principles
Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval is required for any research project involving human participants.
International applicants from countries that have diplomatic relations with the United States and who meet the other eligibility requirements may apply for APF funding.
Preference will be given to early career psychologists (10 years or fewer postdoctoral) and to proposals that integrate group psychotherapy into the proposed research.
Ineligible
APF Trustees must wait one year after their term of service before they can be considered for a grant or an award.
APF does not allow institutional indirect/administrative/overhead costs and/or fees to be taken out of grant monies.
Pre-Application Information
Deadline: June 5, 2025
Applications are due at 11:59 p.m. Hawaii Time (HT) on the due date posted on APF’s website.
APF tries to announce grant recipients approximately three to four months after a grant deadline, though the exact time may take shorter or longer depending on the number of applications received and the review process. Applicants are not held to the timelines they submit in their proposals.
You can apply to as many APF programs as you like. Researchers can win multiple awards for different projects. Each individual project, however, can only receive funding once. This means that if you receive funding for your project, that specific project will be removed from consideration for future funding opportunities from APF.
• APF cannot disburse grant monies without IRB approval. Successful applicants have six months from the date of the grant approval to obtain IRB approval, or the grant will be rescinded.
• Funding begins when recipients submit IRB approval and the required paperwork. APF funding will continue for a maximum of 12 months from the check date. Extensions are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
