Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Periodically, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will publish a summary of information collection requests under OMB review, in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these documents, call the SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer on (240) 276-1243.

Project: Youth Programs Evaluation—NEW

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) is conducting a cross-site external evaluation of three grantee programs that are critical to its youth treatment grants portfolio. The three programs include the 2013 Cooperative Agreements for State Adolescent and Transitional Aged Youth Treatment Enhancement and Dissemination (SYT-ED), the 2015 and 2016 Cooperative Agreements for State Adolescent and Transitional Aged Youth Treatment Enhancement and Dissemination Implementation (SYT-I), and the 2015 Cooperative Agreements for State Adolescent and Transitional Aged Youth Treatment Enhancement and Dissemination Planning (SYT-P).

Preventing and treating substance use and/or mental health disorders are essential to SAMHSA's mission to reduce the impact of behavioral health conditions in America's communities. The specific populations (i.e., adolescents, youth) targeted by the youth programs face a particular set of behavioral health risks and each of the grant programs helps provide targeted services and evidence-based practices. To evaluate the impact and success of SYT program implementation the evaluation includes the following data collection tools:

• Implementation Interview Guide
• Sustainability Interview Guide
• Stakeholder Interview Guide
• Provider Survey
• Focus Group guides

These data collection tools will provide essential information on each grantee program beyond the performance monitoring data already collected by SAMHSA.

The Implementation, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Interview Guides are semi-structured interviews. They are designed to collect data on information related to program implementation facilitators and barriers, infrastructure development, factors related to sustainability, and performance that will inform ongoing recommendations to improve program performance and administration. These interview guides were informed by interview guides used successfully in other evaluations including the SAMHSA Access to Recovery Evaluation, ASPE Medicaid Expansion Evaluation, and the SAMHSA Homeless Programs Evaluations. Each interview is estimated to take approximately one hour. SYT grantees and providers will participate in an interview annually while their program is active. SYT program stakeholders will participate once during the course of their respective grant program. Stakeholders include other organizations or agencies that serve or have a stake hold in helping this population, such as other state/territory/tribe organizations (e.g., child welfare organizations, justice agencies), other community-based providers, or community advocacy groups. Grantee programs will be asked to complete the implementation interview annually until the last year of the grant program when they will be asked to complete the sustainability interview. Respondents will include representatives from grantee, provider and stakeholder organizations involved in the SYT programs.

The Provider Survey aims to collect data to help identify program activities and services that are being implemented as part of the SYT grant programs and the impact these activities/services may have on client outcomes and treatment systems. Substance abuse service provider organizations (e.g., treatment facilities implementing evidence-based treatment practices) participating in SYT-ED or SYT-I grants will be asked to participate in the survey.

The provider survey will collect data on linkages with the grantee and within the youth substance use treatment system for providing services and a safety net to adolescents, transition age youth, and their families. Topics around grantee dissemination and outreach efforts as well as evidence-based practices, program costs and other training activities will also be explored. The Provider survey is estimated to take approximately 1 hour and SYT-ED provider respondents will complete the survey 2 times, once per year, during the cross-site evaluation while SYT-I provider respondents will complete the survey 3 times, once per year.

The Focus Group guides aim to collect the clinicians' and other direct care staff members' perspectives in implementing SYT services and the facilitators, barriers and challenges providers encountered. These data will provide valuable contextual data through which to better understand the Provider Survey data. Clinicians/staff members are uniquely qualified to answer implementation questions on a client, staff and community level. The Focus Groups will allow clinicians/staff members to provide important information around the impact of evidence-based practices in the provider organization and within the community they serve. Clinicians/staff members also will be asked about expectations around evidence-based practices, the effectiveness of implementing evidence-based practices, and the level of engagement from their organization's leadership and the provider community as a whole.

Each provider in the SYT-ED and SYT-I grantee programs will complete the Focus Group once and the estimated time per group is 1.5 hours. For each provider, an average of 6 respondents are expected to join the Focus Group.

Written comments and recommendations concerning the proposed information collection should be sent by July 21, 2016 to the SAMHSA Desk Officer at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB). To ensure timely receipt of comments, and to avoid potential delays in OMB's receipt and processing of mail sent through the U.S. Postal Service, commenters are encouraged to submit their comments to OMB via email to: OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov. Although commenters are encouraged to send their comments via email, commenters may also fax their comments to: 202-395-7285. Commenters may also mail them to: Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, New Executive Office Building, Room 10102, Washington, DC 20503.