[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 1, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10644-10645]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-04419]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration


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: 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 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

[[Page 10645]]

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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    Written comments and recommendations concerning the proposed 
information collection should be sent by March 31, 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: 
[email protected]. 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.

Summer King,
Statistician.
[FR Doc. 2016-04419 Filed 2-29-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4162-20-P