S
A. JUSTIFICATION
1. Circumstances of Information Collection
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) is seeking Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for the extension of data collection activities for monitoring program performance of the Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) Network. SAMHSA’s CSAT funds this program under legislative authority of Section 509, Priority Substance Abuse Treatment Needs of Regional and National Significance, of the Public Health Service Act, as amended.
CSAT intends to extend the use of seven (7) instruments for program monitoring of ATTC events as well as for ongoing quality improvement. Five of the seven instruments are currently approved by the OMB (OMB No. 0930-0216) for use through April 30, 2013. These are:
The Event Description Form,
The Training Post Event Form,
The Training Follow-up Form,
The Meeting Post Event Form, and
The Technical Assistance Post Event Form.
At this time, CSAT is requesting approval to extend the use of these five forms as is, with no revisions.
The remaining two instruments are currently approved by the OMB through a separate approval for CSAT Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Customer Satisfaction instruments (OMB No. 0930-0197). These are:
The Meeting Follow-up Form, and
The Technical Assistance Follow-up Form
The Meeting Follow-up Form and the Technical Assistance Follow-up Form are not being revised. CSAT is not seeking any action related to those two forms at this time since they are covered under a separate OMB approval than is the focus of this application. These two forms are included in the description of the forms CSAT intends to use in order to provide clarity and context.
Table 1 summarizes the forms currently in use, the status of the request related to each form for this extension application, and the forms CSAT is proposing to continue to use after April 30, 2013. In addition, each of the seven instruments intended for continued use after April 30, 2013 is included as an attachment to this support statement (see Attachments 1 through 4).
Table 1: Forms for which an Extension Approval is Requested |
||
Forms Currently in Use |
2013 Approval Request Details |
Proposed 2013 – 2016 Forms |
Event Description Form - (ATTC Form Approved under OMB No. 0930-0216) |
No Changes. Requesting to continue to use this form as is. |
(1) EVENT DESCRIPTION FORM |
Training Post-Event Form – (ATTC Form Approved under OMB No. 0930-0216) |
No Changes. Requesting to continue to use this form as is. |
(2) TRAINING POST-EVENT FORM |
Training Follow-up Form – (ATTC Form Approved under OMB No. 0930-0216) |
No Changes. Requesting to continue to use this form as is.
|
(3) TRAINING FOLLOW-UP FORM |
Meeting Post-Event Form – (ATTC Form Approved under OMB No. 0930-0216) |
No Changes. Requesting to continue to use this form as is. |
(4) MEETING POST-EVENT FORM |
Meeting Follow-up Form – GPRA Customer Satisfaction Surveys for the CSAT Knowledge Application Programs
|
No Changes. Approval is not being requested in this submission since this form continues to be approved under OMB No. 0930-0197 |
(5) MEETING FOLLOW-UP FORM (covered under OMB No. 0930-0197) |
Technical Assistance Post-Event Form - (ATTC Form Approved under OMB No. 0930-0216) |
No Changes. Requesting to continue to use this form as is. |
(6) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE POST-EVENT FORM |
Technical Assistance Follow-up Form - GPRA Customer Satisfaction Surveys for the CSAT Knowledge Application Programs
|
No Changes. Approval is not being requested in this submission since this form continues to be approved under OMB No. 0930-0197 |
(7) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOLLOW-UP FORM (covered under OMB No. 0930-0197) |
The ATTC Network, a nationwide, multidisciplinary resource that draws upon the knowledge, experience and latest research of recognized experts in the field of addictions, is a unique CSAT initiative formed in 1993 in response to a shortage of well-trained addiction professionals in the public sector. The ATTC Network works to enhance the knowledge, skills and aptitudes of the addiction treatment and recovery services workforce by disseminating current health services research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute of Mental Health, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, National Institute of Justice, and other sources, as well as other SAMHSA programs. To accomplish this, the ATTC Network (1) develops and updates state-of-the-art, research-based curricula and professional development training, (2) coordinates and facilitates meetings between Single State Authorities, Provider Associations and other key stakeholders, and (3) provides ongoing technical assistance to individuals and organizations at the local, regional and national levels.
Currently, CSAT funds a network of ten Regional Centers, four National Focus Area Centers and a Networking Coordinating Office, which serve all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Jurisdictions (Attachment 5). Of the fifteen sites, thirteen are located at academic institutions and two are located within nonprofit institutes. Although the individual sites vary in the number of states served and areas of emphasis, each is charged, as is the Network as a whole, with seven key objectives:
Building and maintaining collaborations and facilitating systems change to improve the provision of substance use disorders treatment and recovery services among key organizations and groups;
Using innovative technologies to create partnerships with, and disseminate current behavioral health research from various federal sources;
Developing and updating state-of-the-art research-based curricula;
Enhancing the clinical and cultural competencies of professionals in a variety of disciplines to address the treatment/recovery needs of individuals with substance use disorders;
Upgrading standards of professional practice for addictions workers in a variety of settings;
Serving as a technical resource on state-of-the-art treatment and recovery services for community-based and faith-based organizations, consumers and recovery organizations, and other stakeholders; and
P
The ATTC Network is a major resource in ensuring that treatment and recovery services professionals have the latest information on recommended approaches to addictions treatment and recovery management techniques. The Network provides ongoing dissemination of research-based addictions knowledge in a number of ways, including training events, technical assistance, meetings, print resources such as brochures and newsletters, and electronic media such as Web sites.
Training events take the form of workshops, conferences, continuing education courses, university courses, and community college courses. While the majority of training events are done in the traditional classroom format, there are a growing number of distance education opportunities, including online and video courses. Training participants come from diverse populations, ranging from addictions counselors to correctional officers and health professionals. Technical assistance events are jointly planned consultations generally involving a series of contacts between an ATTC and an outside organization/institution during which the ATTC provides expertise and gives direction toward resolving a problem or improving conditions. Meeting events are ATTC sponsored or co-sponsored events in which a group of people representing one or more agencies other than the ATTC work, cooperatively on a project, problem, and/or a policy.
2. Purpose and Use of Information
SAMHSA’s legislative mandate is to increase access to high quality prevention and treatment services and to improve outcomes. Its mission is to improve the quality and availability of treatment and prevention services for substance abuse and mental illness. To support the Agency’s mission, SAMHSA’s overarching goals are:
1) Accountability—Establish systems to ensure program performance measurement and accountability
2) Capacity—Build, maintain, and enhance mental health and substance abuse infrastructure and capacity
3) Effectiveness—Enable all communities and providers to deliver effective services
SAMHSA strives to coordinate the development of these goals with other ongoing performance measurement development activities. Below are the measures delineated in the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Performance Plan for the Best Practices programs, including the ATTC Network:
Measure 1: Increase the number of individuals trained per year - This is a key measure tracking CSAT’s mission of promoting effective treatment through the adoption of evidence-based practices. Tracking the number of individuals trained is critical in documenting the delivery of service and dissemination of relevant information to the field.
Measure 2: Increase percentage of drug treatment professionals trained by the program who (a) would rate the quality of the events as good, very good, or excellent; (b) shared any of the information from the events with others; (c) report implementing improvements in treatment methods on the basis of information and training provided by the program.
Measure 3: Increase the percentage of grantees in appropriate cost bands.
Outcome data reflect the Agency’s desire for consistency in data collected within the Agency. SAMHSA is implementing specific performance domains called the National Outcome Measures (NOMS) to assess the accountability and performance of its discretionary and formula grant programs. These domains represent SAMHSA’s focus on the factors that contribute to the success of substance abuse treatment, one of which is the use of evidence-based practices. The ATTC Network directly assists CSAT in promoting effectiveness through evidence-based practice programs, which help communities and providers to identify, adapt, implement, and evaluate evidence-based practices. Programs include activities to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice by promoting the adoption of evidence-based practices, and by ensuring that services availability meets targeted needs. These programs also are used to disseminate information about systems and practices shown to be most effective.
Information collected from these instruments will continue to assist CSAT in documenting the numbers and types of participants in ATTC events, describing the extent to which participants report improvement in their clinical competency, and which method is most effective in disseminating knowledge to various audiences. This type of information is crucial to support CSAT in complying with GPRA reporting requirements and will continue to inform future development of knowledge dissemination activities. Moreover, this information will be collected and examined on a regular basis by the ATTC Network itself for ongoing quality improvement purposes. Questions that the ATTC Network considers while examining the data include:
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Do ATTC training events lead to an increase in knowledge and/or skills in participants?
Are certain training formats more effective than others in transferring knowledge and skills to participants?
How is training effectiveness affected by participant type, training format and/or training topic?
Event Definitions
The definitions for the three types of events from which data will continue to be collected have not changed. They are as follows:
Training Event --A training event is defined as an ATTC sponsored or co-sponsored event lasting at least three (3) hours that focuses on the enhancement of knowledge and/or skills. Higher education classes must be included in this definition with each course considered as one training event.
Technical Assistance --Technical assistance is defined as a jointly planned consultation generally involving a series of contacts between the ATTC and an outside organization/institution. During the consultation, the ATTC provides expertise and gives direction toward resolving a problem or improving conditions. This may be a time-limited consultation or an ongoing series of consultations. The ATTC reports technical assistance at the end of the series of contacts or yearly if contacts are ongoing.
Meeting --A meeting is defined as an ATTC sponsored or co-sponsored event in which a group of people representing one or more agencies other than the ATTC work cooperatively on a project, a problem, and/or a policy. These groups may be established and ongoing, or may exist only to accomplish a single purpose. Included in this definition would be consortia meetings and workgroup meetings. The ATTC reports activities as "meetings" only when they are NOT appropriate to report under any other category.
Description of Data Collection and Purposes
Data collected on the forms continue to be entered into an online system maintained by a CSAT contractor. Data entered into this online system are immediately live and accessible to CSAT Project Officers for administration purposes. Table 2 summarizes the data collection instruments. As described above, CSAT intends to extend the use of seven forms to monitor the work of the ATTC Network. CSAT is requesting to extend the current approval for use of five of the seven forms in this application. No changes are being made to the five forms for which CSAT is requesting an approval extension (See Table 1).
Event description data will continue to be reported by ATTC faculty/staff on all three types of events using the Event Description Form (EDF). The EDF collects event information. This instrument asks approximately 10 questions of ATTC faculty/staff relating to the event focus and format, as well as publications to be used during the event. It allows the ATTC Network and CSAT to track the number and types of events held (See Attachment 1). The EDF is not being revised. CSAT is requesting to continue to use this form as is.
Post-event data will be collected on participants of all three types of events according to CSAT requirements.
Post Event Form for Training: The Training Post Event Form, which is administered immediately following the event, currently asks approximately 30 questions of each individual that participated in the training (Attachment 2-1). The instrument asks the participants to report demographic information, education, profession, field of study, status of certification or licensure, workplace role, employment setting, satisfaction with the quality of the training and training materials, and to assess their level of skills in the topic area. The Post Event Form for Training is not being revised. CSAT is requesting to continue to use this form as is.
Post-event Forms for Meetings and Technical Assistance: The Meeting and Technical Assistance Post Event forms are nearly identical. They ask approximately 30 questions of each individual that participated in the event (Attachment 2-1 and 2-3).These forms ask the participants to report demographic information, education, profession, field of study, status of certification or licensure, workplace role, employment setting, and satisfaction with the quality of the event and event materials, and to assess their level of skills in the topic area. They are administered to participants of technical assistance and meeting events immediately following the event. The Meeting and Technical Assistance Post Event forms are not being revised. CSAT is requesting to continue to use these forms as is.
Follow-up data will be collected on participants of all three types of events according to CSAT requirements.
Follow-up Form for Training: The Training Follow-up form, which is administered 30-days after the event to 25% of consenting participants, asks about 25 questions (Attachment 3). The approved instrument asks the participants to report demographic information, satisfaction with the quality of the training and training materials, and to assess their level of skills in the topic area. This instrument is nearly identical to the CSAT Customer Satisfaction instrument for training (OMB No. 0930-0197) except that it includes four (4) additional questions. The Training Follow-up form is not being revised at this time. CSAT is requesting approval to continue to use this form as is.
Follow-up Forms for Meetings and Technical Assistance: The Meeting and Technical Assistance Follow-up forms, which are administered 30-days after the event, ask about 20 questions of 25% of consenting participants (Attachments 4-1 and 4-2). The approved form asks the participants to report satisfaction with the quality of the event materials, to assess their level of skills in the topic area, and to report whether or not they have shared information from the event at their place of work. These forms are already approved by OMB under a separate approval and will not be revised (OMB No. 0930-0197).
While the instruments administered immediately at the end of each event are given to all participants, the instruments administered 30 days after each event are sent to a random sample of 25% of those participants who consented to follow-up. This sampling rule applies to all three types of events.
T
Form |
Timeline |
Type of Information |
ATTC Faculty/Staff |
||
Event Description Form (EDF) (Form 1 in Table 1; See Attachment 1) |
Prior to each event
|
Format and content of event
|
Participants |
||
Post-event Form for Training (Form 2 in Table 1; See Attachment 2-1) |
Completion of each training event (training participants only). |
The form asks participants to report demographic information, education, profession, field of study, status of certification or licensure, workplace role, employment setting, satisfaction with the quality of the training and training materials, and to assess their level of skills in the topic area. No revisions to form currently in use. Requesting approval to continue to use the form as is. |
Follow-up Form for Training (Form 3 in Table 1; See Attachment 3)
|
30 days after completion of training event (random sample of 25% of consenting training participants only).
|
The approved form asks participants to report demographic information, satisfaction with the quality of the training and training materials, and to assess their level of skills in the topic area. No revisions to form currently in use. Requesting approval to continue to use the form as is. |
Post Event Forms for Meetings (Form 4 in Table 1) and Technical Assistance (Form 6 in Table 1) (See Attachments 2-2 and 2-3) |
Completion of each event (event participants only). |
These forms ask the participants to report demographic information, education, profession, field of study, status of certification or licensure, workplace role, employment setting, and satisfaction with the quality of the event and event materials, and to assess their level of skills in the topic area. No revisions to forms currently in use. Requesting approval to continue to use the forms as is. |
Follow-up Forms for Meetings (Form 5 in Table 1) and Technical Assistance (Form 7 in Table 1) (See Attachments 4-1 and 4-2) |
30 days after completion of each technical assistance event or meeting (random sample of 25% of consenting training participants only). |
Government Performance and Results Act Customer Satisfaction Surveys for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment Knowledge Application Programs
Approval is not being requested in this submission.
CSAT Forms Approved under OMB No. 0930-0197 |
3. Use of Information Technology
Sixty percent of the ATTC performance monitoring instruments are administered in person to participants at ATTC events, who complete the forms by paper and pencil. Ten percent of the training courses are online, and thus, those instruments are administered online. Data collection for the Post Event instruments is incorporated into the class procedure. The remaining thirty percent is made up of those 30-day follow-up instruments that are distributed to consenting participants via electronic mail using an online survey tool.
All data collected will be managed in electronic databases. The ATTCs are responsible for data collection and entry for their events. Data collected on all the instruments are entered into the online database maintained by CSAT's contractor. Once data are entered into the system, they are available to CSAT for review. These data can also be downloaded by the ATTCs for their use. At least once a year, the ATTC Network Coordinating Office requests all ATTC data from that year from the CSAT contractor. The ATTC Network Coordinating Office keeps a record of the data collected, and merges files for data examination as requested.
4. Efforts to Identify Duplication
The data to be collected are unique and are not otherwise available.
5. Involvement of Small Entities
Participation in the ATTC Network program monitoring will not be a significant burden on small businesses or small entities or on their workforces.
6. Consequences If Information Collected Less Frequently
Comparisons of data are crucial for CSAT and the ATTC Network to be able to monitor the effectiveness of the training events, and to make necessary adjustments accordingly. The Post Event Questions are needed to give a baseline measure of participants' knowledge, skills and effectiveness in the topic area of the event attended. The Follow-up Questions provide a comparison point to measure a change in knowledge and skills. They also demonstrate whether the information learned in the event has been used in the workplace.
All of the information collected from participants is critical for assessing the effectiveness of the events of the ATTC Network. Without this information, CSAT will be unable to:
Determine the effectiveness of ATTC events in increasing the knowledge and skills of participants;
Determine the effectiveness of various training formats to transfer knowledge and skills to participants.
7. Consistency with the Guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5ld}(2}
This information collection fully complies with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).
8. Consultation Outside the Agency
The notice required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d) was published in the Federal Register on February 5, 2013(78 FR 8159). No comments were received in response to this notice.
No further outside consultation has been initiated.
9. Payment to Respondents
Some ATTC sites may provide minimal payment for the follow-up instruments. This varies across the Network due to regional and local differences. For those ATTC sites that do provide payment, survey research literature suggests that monetary incentives have a strong positive effect on response rates and no known adverse effect on reliability.
10. Assurance of Confidentiality
Each of the instruments asks a number of questions that are used to create a unique identification code. This code does not change over time, but also does not include personal identifiers. This code is used to match responses from post-training to follow-up without personal identifiers. See the Personal Code section at the top of each of the attached instruments in Attachments 1 through 4.
11. Questions of a Sensitive Nature
No forms collect information that is sensitive to individuals.
12. Estimates of Annualized Hour Burden
The total annualized burden to an estimated 42,750 respondents for the ATTC Network program monitoring is estimated to be 6,662.50 hours. Burden estimates are based on previous use of related data collection instruments by the ATTC Network. The annualized hourly costs to respondents are estimated to be $131,451. Hourly wage information is based on estimated median hourly wages of $19.73 an hour for substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors as reported in the Occupational Employment Statistics available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes211011.htm). There are no direct costs to respondents for participation aside from their time. Burden estimates are detailed in Table 3. The Event Description Form is filled out by ATTC faculty or training staff.
Table 3: Annualized Burden Estimates
Type of Respondent |
Number of Respondents |
Responses per Respondent |
Total Responses |
Hours per Response |
Total Annual Burden Hours |
Hourly Wage Cost |
Total Hour Cost |
|
ATTC Faculty/Staff |
|
|
||||||
Event Description Form |
250 |
1 |
250 |
.25 |
62.50 |
|
|
|
Meeting and Technical Assistance Participants |
|
|
||||||
Post-Event Form |
5,000 |
1 |
5,000 |
.12 |
600 |
$19.73 |
$11,838 |
|
Follow-up Form |
|
Covered under CSAT Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Customer Satisfaction form (OMB # 0930-0197) |
||||||
Training Participants |
|
|
||||||
Post-Event Form |
30,000 |
1 |
30,000 |
.16 |
4,800 |
$19.73 |
$94,704 |
|
Follow-up Form |
7,500 |
1 |
7,500 |
.16 |
1,200 |
$19.73 |
$23,676 |
|
TOTAL |
42,750 |
|
42,750 |
|
6,662.50 |
|
$131,451 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
13. Estimates of Annualized Cost Burden to Respondents
There are neither capital or startup costs nor are there any operation and maintenance costs.
14. Estimates of Annualized Cost to the Government
The annual estimated cost to the government for the ATTC Network program is $7.6 million. This includes an estimated annual amount of $7.6 million for cooperative agreements for three years. Approximately $78,234 per year represents SAMHSA costs to manage/administrate the network for 90% of one employee (GS-13).
1
Currently, there are 6,662.50 burden hours in the OMB inventory for the ATTC forms. There are no changes to this amount in this application for approval extension.
16. Time Schedule. Publication and Analysis Plans
Data collection will occur as individuals participate in ATTC-sponsored events across the 10 regional sites, the 4 national focus area sites, and the Network Coordinating Office. Because this assessment is used to monitor and improve upon the quality of ATTC services, ongoing examination is critical. Fortunately, CSAT’s electronic database in which the data will continue to be entered allows reports to be run on the data in a quick and timely manner. ATTC sites will, therefore, periodically run such reports to examine their data. Furthermore, each ATTC site must, according to CSAT funding requirements, prepare two semi-annual reports each fiscal year. In these reports, each ATTC site is required to include a summary report of its performance monitoring data describing whether the site is meeting its annual event and participant targets as well as maintaining a response rate to the follow-up forms of at least 80%. The semi-annual reports are completed by ATTC staff and Directors using a Network template, and are sent to CSAT electronically. In addition, at least once a year the ATTC Network Coordinating Office requests aggregated, Network-wide data on the following categories from CSAT’s electronic database contractor:
Total events;
Total events in each of the three event categories;
Total participants;
Total participants in each of the three event categories;
Percentages of participants of various races and ethnicities combined for all three event types;
Percentages of participants of each gender combined for all three event types;
Percentages of participants who are overall satisfied with ATTC events taken as a whole;
Percentages of participants who are overall satisfied with each of the three types of events;
Percentages of participants who shared information from all ATTC events combined with others;
Percentages of participants who shared information from each of the three types of events with others;
Percentages of participants who shared materials from all ATTC events combined with others;
Percentages of participants who shared materials from each of the three types of events with others;
Percentages of participants who applied what they learned from all ATTC events combined to their work;
Percentages of participants who applied what they learned from each of the three types of events to their work.
The Network Coordinating Office then presents the data in a brief, easy-to-read format for dissemination to key stakeholders.
17. Display of Expiration Date
The expiration date for OMB approval will be displayed on all data collection instruments for which approval is being sought.
18. Exceptions to Certification Statement
There are no exceptions to the certification statement.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT |
| Author | proth |
| Last Modified By | DHHS |
| File Modified | 2013-04-09 |
| File Created | 2013-04-09 |