[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 127 (Monday, July 6, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31958-31961]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-15915]


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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: Cross-community Evaluation of the Native Aspirations 
Project--NEW

    The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's 
(SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) will conduct the 
Cross-Community Evaluation of the Native Aspirations Project. The 
cross-community evaluation has two tiers. Community-specific activities 
(Tier 1) are tied to key components of a community plan developed in 
each participating community that guides program planning and local 
evaluation through data-driven frameworks and inquiry. Tier I 
activities will include process and impact evaluation activities to 
determine the stage of readiness of communities to implement programs, 
how accurately community plans reflect the needs and characteristics of 
each community, how well local resources for American Indian/Alaska 
Native (AI/AN) youth are mobilized, the experience and impact of the 
Gathering of Native Americans (GONA), and the impact of the Native 
Aspirations program on the community. Core cross-community data 
collection activities (Tier II) are cross-community and include process 
and impact indicators such as community-level knowledge and awareness 
of suicide, violence, bullying, and substance abuse; pro-social and 
help-seeking behaviors among Native youth; and the provision of 
services specific to Native youth through existing service systems. 
Tier II activities are directly tied to the primary objectives of the 
Native Aspirations Project and are designed to augment data collection 
through the collection of community- and systems-level change 
measurement. Activities include the Service Provider Focus Groups and 
the Community Knowledge, Awareness and Behavior Survey (C-KABS).
    Data will be collected from Native adults and youth involved in the 
Community Mobilization Plan (CMP) meeting and the Gathering of Native 
Americans (GONA), key program stakeholders, Native youth service 
providers (e.g., teachers, mental health providers, case workers, 
juvenile justice providers), and other community members (Native youth 
and adults). Data collection will take place in 25 AI/AN communities 
across three cohorts. Data collection for the Native Aspirations Cross-
community Evaluation will occur over a 3-year period of grant funding 
for each cohort. Clearance is requested for a 3-year period of data 
collection that spans FY 2009 through FY 2012 during which Cohorts 3 
and 4 will receive 3 years of data collection and Cohort 5 will receive 
2 years of data collection with the final year to be submitted in an 
OMB renewal package. The following describes the specific data 
collection activities and the 9 data collection instruments to be used, 
followed by a summary table of respondents and respondent burden.

Community Specific Data Collection Activities--Tier I

    <bullet> GONA--Baseline Interviews (1 Version). Each participating 
community will have the opportunity to hold a GONA focused on youth 
violence, bullying, substance abuse, and suicide concerns. Community 
GONAs follow four themes that correspond to indigenous values and are 
core resiliency factors for Native people. These values--belonging, 
mastery,

[[Page 31959]]

interdependence, and generosity--are the framework for this 
collaborative community event that focuses on individual and community 
healing, envisioning community wellness, mapping the assets of the 
community, and committing action in the community toward prevention 
efforts centered on youth violence, bullying, substance abuse, and 
suicide. Baseline GONA interviews will be conducted prior to the GONA 
in each community and will center on the four values and how 
respondents view and describe their relationships in and with the 
community; how people in the community deal with youth violence, 
bullying, substance abuse, and suicide; community members' willingness 
to work together to address these issues; community protective factors; 
and suggestions for how community members can work together to address 
these issues. The GONA baseline interviews will be conducted by 
telephone in year 1 of grant funding with a maximum of 6 adults per 
funded community who will attend the GONA in each Cohort. The total 
number of participants across Cohorts 3, 4 and 5 for 3 years is 150. 
Items are formatted as open-ended and semi-structured questions. The 
GONA baseline telephone interviews include 6 items and will take 
approximately 20 minutes to complete. By using either the GONA 
Evaluation--Baseline Consent Form, Phone Script or Verbal Consent Form, 
verbal consent will be received from each respondent prior to 
administration of the GONA Baseline Interviews.
    <bullet> GONA--Followup Interviews (1 Version). The GONA followup 
interviews will be conducted several weeks after the GONA in each 
community. Followup interviews will center around the four values 
(belonging, master, interdependence, and generosity) and respondents' 
experience during the GONA; participation in activities; views on 
community relationships; knowledge of the Native Aspirations Project; 
knowledge of risk factors for youth violence, bullying, substance 
abuse, and suicide; community protective factors; willingness of 
community members to work together and suggestions for working 
together; and next steps. The GONA follow-up interviews will be 
conducted in person with a total of 9 adult respondents who attended 
the GONA in each funded community. Items are formatted as open-ended 
and semi-structured questions. The GONA followup interviews include 11 
questions and will take approximately 60 minutes to complete. These 
followup interviews will occur during a site visit in year 1 of each 
grant for Cohorts 3, 4 and 5. The total number of participants across 
the three cohorts is 225. Each participant will provide written consent 
prior to the interview through the GONA Evaluation--Followup Interview 
Consent Form.
    <bullet> GONA--Youth Followup Focus Group Moderator's Guide (1 
Version). The GONA followup focus groups will be conducted several 
weeks after the GONA with youth who attended the GONA. The focus group 
moderator's guide follows the same content as the GONA Followup 
Interviews (see above). Cross-community evaluation staff will conduct 
up to 2 focus groups with youth in each funded community. Focus groups 
will consist of a maximum of 9 participants per group and will occur 
during a site visit in year 1 of each grant for Cohorts 3, 4 and 5. 
Focus group guides contain 11 items and will last 2 hours. A total of 
450 respondents will participate in GONA focus groups. Caregivers will 
give consent for youth to participate using the GONA FollowUp Youth 
Focus Group Caregiver Consent form and youth will assent to participate 
using the GONA FollowUp Youth Focus Group Youth Assent form.
    <bullet> Community Plan Focus Group Moderator's Guide (1 Version). 
Respondents participating in the Community Plan Focus Groups include 
youth and adults who attended the Community Mobilization Plan (CMP) 
meeting in year 1. The guide consists of questions designed to 
facilitate group communication around the community mobilization 
planning process, early implementation of the plan, and organizational 
and community awareness and involvement. Focus group guides contain 7 
items and will last 2 hours. The cross-community evaluation team will 
conduct up to 3 focus groups with a maximum of 9 participants each in 
year 1 of the grant for each funded community in Cohorts 3, 4 and 5. 
The total number of participants across cohorts is 675. Consent to 
participate will be obtained from adult participants through the 
Community Plan Focus Group Consent form and youths' caregivers will use 
the Community Plan Focus Group Caregiver Consent form to give consent 
and youth will assent to participate using the Community Plan Focus 
Group Youth Assent (Attachment B.6).
    <bullet> Community Plan In-depth Interviews (2 Versions). The 
Community Plan In-depth Interviews will be conducted in person during 
year 3 of the grant. The interviews will be conducted with the same 
individuals who participated in the CMP focus groups; however, the 
participants will be divided into two groups with two respective 
guides. Version 1 will be conducted with participants who remained 
active in the community mobilization process and Version 2 will be used 
with respondents who discontinued their involvement with Native 
Aspirations. The interviews will be used to gather information on the 
CMP implementation process, organizational and community awareness and 
involvement with Native Aspirations, and the impact of the Native 
Aspirations program on the community. The Community Plan In-depth 
Interview--Version 1 consists of 24 open ended and semi-structured 
questions and will take 60 minutes to complete. Version 1 will be 
conducted with up to 9 participants, including Native youth and adults, 
in year 3 of the grant for a maximum total of 225 respondents across 
Cohorts 3, 4 and 5. The Community Plan In-depth Interview--Version 2 
consists of 11 open ended and semi-structured questions and will take 
20 minutes to complete. Up to 9 respondents, including Native youth and 
adults, will be interviewed using Version 2 in year 3 of the grant. The 
maximum total of respondents from each funded community across Cohorts 
3, 4 and 5 is 225 for Version 2 over the life of the grant. Adult 
participants for both versions will be required to provide written 
consent prior to participation using the Community Plan In-Depth 
Interview V.1 Consent form or the Community Plan In-Depth Interview V.2 
Consent and youth participants will need written caregiver consent 
collected on the Community Plan Interview V.1 & V.2 Caregiver Consent 
forms and youth assent using the Community Plan Interview V.1 & V.2 
Youth Assent forms.

Cross Community Data Collection Activities--Tier II

    <bullet> Service Provider Focus Group Moderator's Guide (2 
Versions). The Service Provider Focus Groups are designed to facilitate 
conversation and information sharing with youth service providers 
across communities to acquire a broader understanding of provider and 
service availability for Native youth. Version 1 participants will 
include agency staff such as teachers, mental health professionals, 
justice providers and welfare providers and Version 2 participants will 
include non-agency staff such as paraprofessional providers and/or 
``natural helpers.'' However, specific provider types will be 
identified for each participating community as a function of their 
existence and number. Version 1 of the

[[Page 31960]]

focus group guides consists of 9 items and Version 2 consists of 7 
items, each with additional sub-questions/probes covering the 
availability of wellness and mental health services, how agencies work 
together, awareness of violence/suicide prevention activities, and 
areas for improvement. Focus groups will include a maximum of 9 
participants per group, with up to 3 focus groups in each community in 
each of years 1 (baseline) and 3 (follow up) of the grant. Two focus 
groups will be conducted with agency staff using Version 1, for a 
maximum total of 900 respondents across the life of the grant. One 
focus group will be conducted with non-agency staff using Version 2 for 
a maximum number of 450 participants across the life of the grant for 
each Cohort. Focus groups will last approximately 2 hours. Written 
consent will be obtained prior to focus group participation using the 
Service Provider Focus Group V.1 Consent form and Service Provider 
Focus Group V.2 Consent form.
    <bullet> Community Knowledge, Awareness and Behavior Survey (C-
KABS)--Adult Version. The C-KABS--Adult Version is designed to gather 
knowledge and awareness information from adult community members 
related to suicide, substance abuse, violence, and bullying. In 
addition, respondents will report on their exposure to Native 
Aspirations Project activities regarding the prevention of suicide, 
substance abuse, violence, and bullying. Other constructs include the 
availability of services, knowledge of youth risk factors, and stigma 
around and attitude toward seeking services for wellness. The C-KABS--
Adult Version will be administered annually, for all 3 years of the 
grant, to 100 Native adults from each funded community. The survey 
consists of 36 open and closed-ended questions that include Likert-type 
agreement scales, prevalence scales and questions, behavior scales and 
questions, true/false items, and demographic questions. The survey 
takes approximately 45 minutes to complete. A total of 7,500 
respondents will participate from Cohorts 3, 4 and 5. Written consent 
will be obtained using the C-KABS Adult Consent form.
    <bullet> Community Knowledge, Awareness, and Behavior Survey (C-
KABS)--Youth Version. The C-KABS Youth Version will be administered to 
youth participants (age 11 and older) to gather information about 
existing social norms around help-seeking behavior, pro-social behavior 
(e.g., traditional Indian activities) among youth, and the extent to 
which respondent youth have been exposed to risky behaviors (suicide, 
violence, substance abuse, and/or bullying), as well as their exposure 
to prevention efforts for risky behaviors related to the Native 
Aspirations Project. The survey will also contain items about youths' 
access to pathways to risky behaviors (e.g., how hard/easy is it to get 
drugs/alcohol), access to and awareness of/willingness to seek help for 
these behaviors for themselves or others, and youths' engagement in 
risky and protective behaviors. The C-KABS Youth Version will be 
administered annually, for all 3 years of the grant, to 100 Native 
youth from each funded community. The survey consists of 38 open and 
closed-ended questions that include Likert-type agreement scales, 
prevalence scales and questions, behavior scales and questions, true/
false items, and demographic questions. A total of 7,500 youth will 
participate from Cohorts 3, 4 and 5. Youths' caregivers will provide 
consent for youth to participate using the C-KABS Youth Caregiver 
Consent form and youth will assent to participate using the C-KABS 
Youth Assent form.
    <bullet> Community Readiness Assessment (1 Version). The CRA 
addresses 6 dimensions focused an identified social concern (i.e., 
youth violence, bullying, and suicide). These dimensions include (a) 
community prevention efforts, (b) community knowledge of prevention 
efforts, (c) leadership, (d) community climate, (e) knowledge about the 
problem, and (f) resources for prevention efforts. In addition, there 
are 9 developmental levels of readiness within a community that must 
progress through. CRAs include 26 interview questions which address 
each of the 6 community readiness dimensions; most items are formatted 
as open-ended questions with 3 items scored on a scale of 1 to 10. 
During years 1 and 3, CRAs will be conducted with each funded community 
in Cohorts 3, 4 and 5 to address youth violence, bullying, and suicide 
from a multi-faceted perspective. Telephone interviews will be 
conducted with up to six key informants in the community. Interviews 
will last 60 minutes and a maximum of 300 respondents will be 
interviewed. Overall readiness scores will be determined based on key 
informants' responses and will indicate the community's status with 
respect to each of these dimensions. Consent will be obtaining using 
either the Community Readiness Assessment Verbal Consent form or the 
Community Readiness Assessment Written Consent form.
    Data Abstraction and Submission. In addition to the above described 
data collection activities, data from existing sources abstracted using 
the Data Abstraction and Submission Form (i.e., management information 
systems (MIS), administrative records, case files, etc.) will be 
analyzed across communities to support the impact stage of Tier I of 
the cross-community evaluation. To minimize data collection burden on 
community members, this activity will be tailored to key components 
identified in the community plan and will be developed around existing 
data systems and related infrastructures. Cross-community technical 
assistance providers will assist in the identification of existing data 
sources and their relevance to locally planned Native Aspirations 
activities. Data elements may be requested from educational systems, 
juvenile justice/law enforcement sources, mental health agencies, child 
welfare, Medicaid, and community organizations (e.g., YMCA, boys and 
girls clubs, etc.). A maximum of 10 data elements each will be 
requested from education and juvenile justice/law enforcement sources 
and a maximum of 5 data elements each will be requested from mental 
health, child welfare, Medicaid, and community activities. These data 
will be aggregated from existing data sources, some of which are 
attendance sheets, management information systems, etc. Grantees are 
responsible for aggregating these data and submitting them to the 
Native Aspirations Cross-community Evaluation team by mail, electronic 
mail, or by uploading the data. The burden associated with accessing, 
aggregating, and submitting existing data is approximately 6 hours per 
activity per year. Data abstraction and submission will occur two times 
per year in each funded community in Cohorts 3, 4 and 5. Seven 
respondents (one each representing education, juvenile justice, law 
enforcement, mental health, child welfare, Medicaid, and community 
activities) in each community will perform data abstraction and 
submission for a total of 175 respondents and 2,100 hours across 3 
years of data collection for Cohorts 3, 4 and 5.
    Given the expected variation in available technology (e.g., 
Internet) and geographic spread of the target populations, flexible 
implementation options for surveys include local distribution and/or 
administration of surveys, in-person group, and Internet options and 
will be determined with each participating community and used when 
relevant and viable.
    The average annual respondent burden is estimated below. The 
estimate reflects the average annual number of

[[Page 31961]]

respondents, the average annual number of responses, the time it will 
take for each response, and the average annual burden across 3 years of 
OMB clearance, which includes 3 years of data collection for Cohorts 3 
and 4 and two years of data collection for Cohort 5.

                              Annualized Averages: Respondents, Responses and Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of
                  Measure name                       Number of     responses per      Hours/         Response
                                                    respondents     respondent       response         burden*
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Community Specific Data Collection Activities-
 Tier I:
    GONA Baseline Interviews....................              50               1            0.33              17
    GONA Follup Interviews......................              75               1             1.0              75
    GONA Youth Followup Focus Groups............             150               1             2.0             300
    Community Plan Focus Groups.................             225               1             2.0             450
    Community Plan In-depth Interviews--V.1.....              51               1             1.0              51
    Community Plan In-depth Interviews--V.2.....              51               1            0.33              17
    Service Provider Focus Groups--V.1..........             252               1             2.0             504
Cross Community Data Collection Activities--Tier
 II:
    Service Provider Focus Groups--V. 2.........             126               1             2.0             252
    C-KABS Adult Version........................           2,234               1            0.75           1,676
    C-KABS Youth Version........................           2,234               1            0.75           1,676
    Community Readiness Assessment1.............              84               1             1.0              84
    Data Abstraction and Submission Form........             156             2.0             6.0           1,872
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
        Total...................................           5,688  ..............  ..............           6,974
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Rounded to the nearest whole number.

    Send comments to Summer King, SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, 
Room 7-1044, One Choke Cherry Road, Rockville, MD 20857 and e-mail her 
a copy at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f784829a9a9285d99c9e9990b784969a9f8496d99f9f84d9909881"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="4033352d2d25326e2b292e270033212d2833216e2828336e272f36">[email protected]</span></a>. Written comments should be 
received within 60 days of this notice.

    Dated: June 26, 2009.
Elaine Parry,
Director, Office of Program Services.
[FR Doc. E9-15915 Filed 7-2-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P


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