[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 205 (Thursday, October 23, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63415-63416]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-25214]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

    In compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 concerning opportunity for public comment on proposed 
collections of information, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health 
Services Administration (SAMHSA) will publish periodic summaries of 
proposed projects. To request more information on the proposed projects 
or to obtain a copy of the information collection plans, call the 
SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer on (240) 276-1243.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collections of 
information are necessary for the proper performance of the functions 
of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology.

Proposed Project: Networking Suicide Prevention Hotlines--Evaluation of 
the Lifeline Policies for Helping Callers at Imminent Risk (OMB No. 
0930-0333)--Revision

    The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's 
(SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) funds a National 
Suicide Prevention Lifeline Network (``Lifeline''), consisting of a 
toll-free telephone number that routes calls from anywhere in the 
United States to a network of local crisis centers. In turn, the local 
centers link callers to local emergency, mental health, and social 
service resources. This project is a revision of the Evaluation of 
Lifeline Policies for Helping Callers at Risk and builds on previously 
approved data collection activities [Evaluation of Networking Suicide 
Prevention Hotlines Follow-Up Assessment (OMB No. 0930-0274) and Call 
Monitoring of National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Form (OMB No. 0930-
0275)]. The extension and revision data collection is an effort to 
advance the understanding of crisis hotline utilization and its impact.
    The overarching purpose of the proposed Evaluation of the Lifeline 
Policies for Helping Callers at Imminent Risk is to implement data 
collection to evaluate hotline counselors' management of imminent risk 
callers and third party callers concerned about persons at imminent 
risk, and counselor adherence to Lifeline Policies and Guidelines for 
Helping Callers at Imminent Risk of Suicide. Specifically, the 
Evaluation of the Lifeline Policies for Helping Callers at Imminent 
Risk will collect data, using a revised imminent risk form, to inform 
the network's knowledge of the extent to

[[Page 63416]]

which counselors are aware of and being guided by the Lifeline's 
imminent risk guidelines; counselors' definitions of imminent risk; the 
rates of active rescue of imminent risk callers; types of rescue 
(voluntary or involuntary); barriers to intervention; circumstances in 
which active rescue is initiated, including the caller's agreement to 
receive the intervention, profile of imminent risk callers; and the 
types of interventions counselors used with them.
    Clearance is being requested for one activity to assess the 
knowledge, actions, and practices of counselors to aid callers who are 
determined to be at imminent risk for suicide and who may require 
active rescue. This evaluation will allow researchers to examine and 
understand the actions taken by counselors to aid imminent risk 
callers, the need for active rescue, the types of interventions used, 
and, ultimately, improve the delivery of crisis hotline services to 
imminent risk callers. A total of eight new centers will participate in 
this evaluation. Thus, SAMHSA is requesting OMB review and approval of 
the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline--Imminent Risk Form-Revised.
    Crisis counselors at eight new participating centers will record 
information discussed with imminent risk callers on the Imminent Risk 
Form-Revised, which does not require direct data collection from 
callers. As with previously approved evaluations, callers will maintain 
anonymity. Counselors will be asked to complete the form for 100% of 
imminent risk callers to the eight centers participating in the 
evaluation. This form requests information in 15 content areas, each 
with multiple sub-items and response options. Response options include 
open-ended, yes/no, Likert-type ratings, and multiple choice/check all 
that apply. The form also requests demographic information on the 
caller, the identification of the center and counselor submitting the 
form, and the date of the call. Specifically, the form is divided into 
the following sections: (1) Counselor information, (2) center 
information, (3) call characteristics (e.g., line called, language 
spoken, participation of third party), (4) suicidal desire, (5) 
suicidal intent, (6) suicidal capability, (7) buffers to suicide, (8) 
interventions agreed to by caller or implemented by counselor without 
caller's consent, (9) whether imminent risk was reduced enough such 
that active rescue was not needed, (10) interventions for third party 
callers calling about a person at imminent risk, (11) whether 
supervisory consultation occurred during or after the call, (12) 
barriers to getting needed help to the person at imminent risk, (13) 
steps taken to confirm whether emergency contact was made with person 
at risk, (14) outcome of attempts to rescue person at risk, and (15) 
outcome of attempts to follow-up on the case. The revised form reduces 
and streamlines responses options for intervention questions. It also 
adds information about the center, the call (e.g., language and 
military service), interventions (e.g., supervisor contact, rescue 
initiation), and follow-up/outcome. The form will take approximately 15 
minutes to complete and may be completed by the counselor during or 
after the call. It is expected that a total of 750 forms will be 
completed by 132 counselors over the three-year data collection period.
    The estimated response burden to collect this information is 
annualized over the requested three-year clearance period and is 
presented below:

                                              Total and Annualized Burden: Respondents, Responses and Hours
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                                                                        Number of        Responses/                        Hours per        Total hour
                             Instrument                                respondents       respondent    Total responses      response          burden
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National Suicide Prevention Lifeline--Imminent Risk Form-Revised...             132              1.9              250              .26               65
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    Send comments to Summer King, SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, 
Room 2-1057, One Choke Cherry Road, Rockville, MD 20857 or email her a 
copy at [email protected]. Written comments should be received 
by December 22, 2014.

Summer King,
Statistician.
[FR Doc. 2014-25214 Filed 10-22-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P