[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]
 BILLING CODE 4162-20-P