[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 248 (Monday, December 28, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80783-80784]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-32559]
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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: Now Is the Time (NITT)--Minority Fellowship Program
(MFP) Evaluation--New
SAMHSA is conducting a national evaluation of the Now is the Time
(NITT) initiative, which includes separate programs--the Minority
Fellowship Program-Youth (MFP-Y), the Minority Fellowship Program-
Addiction Counselors (MFP-AC), Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and
Resilience in Education)-State Educational Agency, and Healthy
Transitions. These programs are united by their focus on capacity
building, system change, and workforce development.
The NITT-MFP (Youth and Addiction Counselors) programs, which are
the focus of this data collection, represent a response to the fourth
component of President Obama's NITT Initiative: increasing access to
mental health/behavioral health services. The purpose of the NITT-MFP
programs is to improve behavioral health care outcomes for underserved
racially and ethnically diverse populations by
[[Page 80784]]
increasing the number of culturally competent master's level behavioral
health professionals and addiction counselors serving children,
adolescents, and populations in transition to adulthood (ages 16-25) in
an effort to increase access to, and quality of, behavioral health care
for these age groups. The NITT-MFP--Youth program funded five grantees
to each support up to 48 master's level fellows per year committed to
addressing the behavioral health needs of at risk children,
adolescents, and transition-age youth (ages 16-25). The NITT-MFP--
Addiction Counselors program funded two grantees to each support up to
30 master's level fellows per year in their final year of addiction
counseling university programs, with a focus on providing culturally
sensitive addiction counseling to underserved youth in the 16-25 age
group.
The NITT-MFP evaluation is designed to assess the level of success
of the grantees in meeting the programs' goals and identify the factors
that contribute to differences among grantees in levels of success. The
evaluation includes both process and outcome evaluation components and
will be supported by the data collection efforts described below. The
information to be collected is necessary to (a) assess the
effectiveness of the grantees' program recruitment strategies, (b)
describe the services that the programs offer, and (c) assess whether
NITT-MFP is meeting its goal of increasing the skilled workforce by
increasing the number of behavioral health providers and addiction
counselors providing services to underserved children, adolescents, and
transition-age youth, particularly among racially/ethnically diverse
populations.
About 4 to 5 months after completion of their fellowship, a subset
of fellow alumni will be asked to participate in the NITT-MFP Fellow
Interview. These telephone interviews will collect detailed qualitative
information on fellows' experiences that are not possible to collect in
a survey. The interview is timed to collect fellows' impressions of
their fellowship experiences before too much time has passed, as well
as their initial labor market outcomes. The information collected will
be used to assess the NITT-MFP program factors associated with
employment and other post-fellowship outcomes. The interviewees will be
asked to describe (1) their program, how they learned about it, and
what led them to apply; (2) the effects of the program on their
interest in working with at risk children, adolescents, and transition
age youth from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds (and for
MFP-AC fellows, in the area of addiction counseling); (3) whether the
program improved their understanding of and ability to provide
culturally competent services; (4) whether they completed their
fellowship and the effects of the stipend on their education and
career; (5) their current employment setting, and, if in behavior
health services, the characteristics of their client population; (6)
the role that their fellowship played in their job interests and job
search; and (7) their satisfaction with the fellowship program and
assessment of its impact on their career and professional activities. A
maximum of 66 fellow alumni are expected to complete the NITT-MFP
Fellow Interview per year; respondents will complete the telephone
interview one time.
Annualized Burden Hours
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Number of Responses per Total number of Hours per Total burden
Instrument respondents respondent responses response hours
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NITT-MFP Fellow Interview.......................................... 66 1 66 1 66
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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
February 26, 2016.
Summer King,
Statistician.
[FR Doc. 2015-32559 Filed 12-24-15; 8:45 am]
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