[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 144 (Monday, July 28, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43759-43761]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-17646]


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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: Identifying Core Competencies of Peer Workers in 
Behavioral Health Services (Behavioral Health Services--NEW)

    SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health Services' project, Bringing 
Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS 
TACS) is requesting the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) 
approval for a data collection project entitled, ``Identifying Core 
Competencies of Peer Workers in Behavioral Health Services.'' The BRSS 
TACS team intends to use two instruments to collect original data to 
inform the ongoing development of core competencies for peer workers in 
behavioral health care services. These instruments are:

 Core Competencies Survey with Peer Workers
 Telephone Interview of Peer Workers

    The primary purpose for this information is to appraise the 
importance of specific competencies to the work of peer workers who are 
currently employed in behavioral health settings. The Core Competencies 
Survey will collect peer workers' ratings of the importance of 
different competencies to their work. The Telephone Interview of Peer 
Workers will collect peer workers' experiences with and opinions about 
the competencies on the survey. They will also be asked how they might 
use the competencies in their work. The Core Competencies Survey and 
the Telephone Interview are seen as critical to the development of core 
competencies for peer workers because they integrate the perspective of 
people who are currently employed as peer workers in the behavioral 
health care

[[Page 43760]]

workforce and have been judged as competent by another colleague.
    While peer workers have become critical components of recovery-
oriented systems, paid peer positions and roles are relatively new 
additions to the behavioral health workforce. There are basic questions 
about how to define these roles. There are additional uncertainties 
about how best to prepare people in recovery for the role of peer 
worker and how to supervise and evaluate the job performance of peer 
workers. Developing a set of core competencies is an important step in 
responding to these questions and may be a valuable activity in 
expanding peer roles in behavioral health.
    Although training programs for peer workers in the behavioral 
health system have existed for over a decade, there have been no 
attempts to standardize the content or the models of training. To date, 
no national consensus defines standards for peer worker training 
programs. Training programs differ in length, ranging from 30 to 105 
hours of face-to-face training and vary widely in the knowledge and 
skills that they teach trainees (SAMHSA, 2012).
    The Core Competency Project will describe the foundational 
knowledge, skills, and attitudes required by peer workers to perform 
their roles in a wide variety of behavioral health programs and 
services. Peer-provided recovery support services typically involve 
providing social support, linking people to community resources, 
assisting with decision-making activities, and a host of educational 
and recreational activities (CSAT, 2009; SAMHSA, 2012). In addition, 
peer workers facilitate educational and support groups and advocate for 
service improvements. SAMHSA defines peer-provided recovery support as, 
``a set of non-clinical, peer-based activities that engage, educate and 
support an individual successfully to make life changes necessary to 
recover from disabling mental illness and/or substance use disorder 
conditions'' (CSAT, 2009). While some peer workers are performing 
advanced or specialized competencies within the behavioral health 
field, the core competencies described will include the foundational 
competencies required by all peer workers working in a variety of 
environments and with a diversity of people.
    It is critical to communicate to the behavioral health field and 
behavioral health authorities about the foundational knowledge, skills, 
and attitudes needed by peer workers. Because of the anticipated 
continued demand for peers in the behavioral health workforce, SAMHSA 
has prioritized the development of peer-delivered recovery support 
services across mental health and substance use disorder services. In 
an effort to deliver services of uniformly high quality, the core 
competencies of peer workers will be described so that states and other 
credentialing bodies will be able to establish uniform standards for 
peer workers.
    In addition, clear descriptions of core competencies will assist 
behavioral health authorities with their strategic workforce planning 
efforts. The description of core competencies will inform services and 
peer workforce training programs of the basic requirements needed by 
peer workers in behavioral health services. The competencies will 
provide guidance to behavioral health programs when writing job 
descriptions and performances evaluations. In many communities, job 
descriptions lack uniformity and specificity and do not reflect 
accurately the focus of peer-provided recovery support services.
    The results of these surveys will contribute to the creation of 
competency descriptions that will provide guidance to organizations, 
programs, states, and regions to strengthen their peer workforce 
development efforts. These core competencies will inform training 
programs and state certification entities about the essential skills, 
knowledge, and attitudes needed by peer workers in a range of roles in 
behavioral health services. Currently, 33 states offer certification 
for their peer workers and a growing number of states use Medicaid 
funds to reimburse for peer support services (Daniels et al., 2014). 
Despite the growth of the behavioral health peer workforce; there are 
inconsistencies in the requirements for these certifications across 
different states.
    For behavioral health organizations and programs, core competencies 
will provide guidance for job descriptions for peer workers and improve 
the recruitment of potential workers by providing fair and unbiased 
criteria for hiring and making sure everyone is assessed against the 
same framework. Core competency descriptions have the potential to 
strengthen the workforce through improved training and preparation of 
peer workers. Behavioral health programs and organizations can use the 
core competencies to improve performance evaluations by providing a 
framework to discuss and assess performance.
    Core competencies have the potential to contribute to a ``culture 
of competence'' in which peer workers could use the competencies to 
engage in accurate self-assessment and seek out experiences to improve 
their competencies. For peer workers, core competencies could help to 
clarify what is expected in their role and will assist them in 
assessing their own strengths and limitations as a provider of peer 
support.
    At this time, SAMHSA is requesting approval to use these two forms. 
The forms are described here:
    1. Core Competencies Survey: The Core Competencies Survey was 
developed through an extensive process of literature reviews, synthesis 
of the competencies, expert panel review, and consensus-building 
activities. The Core Competencies Survey has 61 items and uses a 5-
point Likert scale from 1-unimportant to 5-very important. The items on 
the survey are specific competencies that were developed by the BRSS 
TACS team, their partners, and experts in peer-provided services in 
behavioral health. Respondents to the Core Competencies Survey will 
also complete a section on demographic characteristics of the 
participant's gender, age, race/ethnicity, geographic location, level 
of education, monthly income, length of time as a peer worker, current 
field of employment, and certification status. Demographic data will be 
used to describe the survey respondents. The response to the current 
field of employment question will be used to categorize the respondent 
as working primarily in addiction services, mental health services, or 
services for people with co-occurring disorders, a variable that will 
be included in specific analyses of the data.
    2. Peer Worker Telephone Interviews: Peer worker interviews will be 
conducted by telephone with 20 peer workers to gather descriptive 
details about the interviewees' use of the core competencies included 
in the quantitative surveys, their opinions about specific 
competencies, and their beliefs about the usefulness of articulating 
core competencies for their peer worker roles. Qualitative interviews 
may also produce examples of how peer workers use specific 
competencies.
    The information gathered by the Core Competencies Survey and the 
Peer Worker Telephone Interview will help SAMHSA guide the behavioral 
health field with workforce development efforts related to peer 
workers. This information is crucial to providing technical assistance 
to states, behavioral health organizations, peer-run and recovery 
community organizations, and organizations and institutions that

[[Page 43761]]

provide training to peer workers in behavioral health.
    The chart below summarizes the annualized burden for this project.

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                                   Number of     Responses per    Total number      Hours per      Total annual
      Type of respondent          respondents      respondent     of responses      response       burden hours
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Peer workers for interview....              20                1              20               1               20
Peer workers for survey.......             100                1             100               1              200
ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½
    Total.....................             120  ...............             120  ..............              220
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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 
September 26, 2014.

Summer King,
Statistician.
[FR Doc. 2014-17646 Filed 7-25-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P