[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 203 (Monday, October 23, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72771-72774]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23319]


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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

[[Page 72772]]

Reports Clearance Officer on (240) 276-0361.
    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: Survey of Current and Alumni SAMHSA Fellows of the 
Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) (OMB No. 0930-0304)--Revision

    In 1973, in response to a substantial lack of ethnic and racial 
minorities in the mental health professions, the Center for Minority 
Health at the National Institute of Mental Health established the MFP. 
Since the MFP's transition to SAMHSA in 1992, the program has continued 
to facilitate the entry of graduate students and psychiatric residents 
into mental health careers and has increased the number of psychology, 
psychiatry, nursing, and social work professionals trained to provide 
mental health and substance abuse services to minority groups. The 
traditional MFP offers sustained grants to six national behavioral 
health professional associations: the American Association of Marriage 
and Family Therapy (AAMFT), American Nurses Association (ANA), American 
Psychiatric Association (APsychA), American Psychological Association 
(APA), Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), and National Board for 
Certified Counselors (NBCC) which administers the program for the NBCC 
and the Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC). A seventh 
program, offered after the previously approved surveys, is referred to 
as The Interdisciplinary Minority Fellowship Program and is 
administered by the American Psychological Association.
    This data collection includes two survey instruments, the Survey of 
Current SAMHSA MFP Fellows and the Survey of Alumni SAMHSA MFP Fellows. 
The two online surveys (with the option for a hard copy mailed through 
the U.S. Postal Service) will be used with the following stakeholders 
in the MFP grant programs:
    1. Current SAMHSA MFP Fellows (n=411)
    a. Current MFP fellows (doctoral-level fellows) and master's-level 
fellows currently receiving support during their doctoral-level, 
master's-level, psychiatric residency, or certificate training programs 
will be asked about their experiences in the MFP (learning 
opportunities and mentoring experiences in the program through their 
participation in professional development and other various activities 
provided by the grantees), plans for their career beyond the MFP, and 
suggestions for improvement of their MFP experience.
    2. MFP Alumni (n=1,280)
    a. MFP Alumni who participated in the MFP during the time the 
program was administered by SAMHSA will be asked about their previous 
experiences as fellows in the MFP, their subsequent involvement and 
leadership in their professions, and ways in which the MFP prepared 
them for their current positions.
    The information gathered by these two surveys will be used to 
document contributions and impacts of current and former MFP fellows. 
The current fellows survey includes questions to assess the following 
measures: background items on training specialty and demographics, 
practicum and internship experiences, professional development 
activities (e.g., number of certifications obtained, types of 
professional development/contributions to the field such as number of 
presentations or publications), and learning opportunities related to 
MFP fellows' preparation to provide culturally competent mental and 
substance use disorder services to underserved populations. The alumni 
fellows survey includes questions to measure: background items on 
specialization and demographics, status of degree completion, 
employment experiences and settings where providing culturally 
competent mental and substance use disorder services to underserved 
populations, contributions to the field, application of MFP learning 
opportunities in current employment experiences, mentoring and other 
support received during the MFP, satisfaction with their preparation 
during MFP for their current employment or educational placement, 
intentions to stay in or leave the behavioral health field, and 
suggestions for improving the MFP.
    This request amends the OMB approval that expired August 31, 2019, 
by omitting questions that gathered information on number of mentors 
and total mentored hours; as well as self-reported impacts on current 
and alumni fellows such as increased knowledge, skills, and aptitude. 
Both the current and alumni fellows' surveys are revised accordingly. 
For the alumni survey, the respondent pool has been limited only to 
those who have completed the MFP within the past five years. 
Additionally, to further streamline this data collection SAMHSA has 
also deleted eleven other questions that are not critical to assessing 
the program's progress. In turn, the following questions have been 
added to the survey instruments to help better assess the program's 
progress with meeting stated goals and plan for future cohorts of 
fellows:

(1) Specialization

    Response choices were modified and added to align with position 
titles in HRSA's annual behavioral workforce survey.
    My specialization would best prepare me/prepared me for positions 
such as those held by (check more than one if applicable):

[ ] Adult psychiatrists
[ ] Child and adolescent psychiatrists
[ ] Psychiatric nurse practitioners
[ ] Physician assistants
[ ] Psychologists
[ ] Social workers
[ ] Marriage and family therapists
[ ] Addictions counselors
[ ] Mental health counselors
[ ] School counselors
[ ] Other: Please specify [text box]

(2) Personal Background

    Items and response choices were added or revised to align with how 
these are asked in federal national data collections (e.g., American 
Community Survey or NIH's PhenX Toolkit).
    The next set of questions will help SAMHSA understand the variation 
in responses based on characteristics of MFP fellows.

(5) What is your gender?
[ ] Male
[ ] Female
[ ] Non-binary, . . . .
[ ] Two-Spirit
[ ] TF (Transgender Female)
[ ] TM (Transgender Male)/
[ ] Other (please specify): [text box] *
[ ] Prefer not to answer

(6) Are you of Hispanic, Latina/Latino, or Spanish origin? *
[ ] No, not of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin
[ ] Yes
    [ ] Mexican, Mexican Am., Chicano
    [ ] Puerto Rican
    [ ] Cuban
    [ ] Another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin--for example, 
Salvadoran, Dominican, Colombian, Guatemalan, Spaniard, Ecuadorian,

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etc.) [text box] *
    [ ] Prefer not to answer

(7) What is your race? For this survey (as in the U.S. Census), 
Hispanic origins are not races. Check all that apply.*
[ ] White--for example, German, Irish, English, Italian, Lebanese, 
Egyptian, etc.
[ ] Black, African American, or African--for example, African American, 
Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, Somali, etc.
[ ] American Indian or Alaska Native--Print name of enrolled or 
principal tribe(s), for example, Navajo Nation, Blackfeet Tribe, Mayan, 
Aztec, Native Village of Barrow Inupiat Traditional Government, Nome 
Eskimo Community, etc.
[ ] Asian or Asian American
    [ ] Chinese
    [ ] Filipino
    [ ] Asian Indian
    [ ] Vietnamese
    [ ] Korean
    [ ] Japanese
    [ ] Other Asian--for example, Pakistani, Cambodian, Hmong, etc.
[ ] Native Hawaiian, Samoan, Chamorro, Other Pacific Islander--for 
example, Tongan, Fijian, Marshallese, etc.
[ ] Some other race--specify race or origin:
[ ] Prefer not to answer

    The following items will help us understand the immigrant status of 
our trainees and the extent to which we are diversifying our trainees 
to respond to the growing needs of immigrant families.

(8) Are you from an immigrant family?
[ ] NO
[ ] YES
[ ] Prefer not to answer
a. Was either of your parents born outside of the U.S.?
    [ ] YES, one parent
    [ ] YES, both parents
    [ ] NO, neither parent
    [ ] Prefer not to answer
b. Was at least one of your grandparents born outside of the U.S.?
    [ ] YES
    [ ] NO
    [ ] Prefer not to answer
c. Were you born outside of the U.S.?
    [ ] YES
    [ ] NO
    [ ] Prefer not to answer

(9) List any language(s), other than English, in which you have at 
least minimum professional speaking proficiency (i.e., can participate 
effectively in most formal and informal conversations on practical and 
professional topics). Check all that apply.*
[ ] English only
[ ] African-other than Amharic (please specify below)
[ ] Amharic
[ ] Chinese-Mandarin
[ ] Chinese-Other
[ ] French
[ ] German
[ ] Hindi
[ ] Japanese
[ ] Korean
[ ] Kreyol
[ ] Portuguese
[ ] Russian
[ ] Spanish
[ ] Other language (please specify): [text box]
[ ] Prefer not to answer

(10) Do you have a disability or require accommodations to perform 
essential professional functions? *
[ ] Yes
[ ] No
[ ] Prefer not to answer

(3) Learning Opportunities

    Added items or response choices (e.g., use of telehealth) to 
reflect changes in behavioral practices and service delivery due to 
COVID-19 restrictions.

20. During the past MFP year, as part of your program, please check the 
types of learning opportunities you had for each of the following 
topics.

(a) Working with individuals from racially and ethnically diverse 
backgrounds? (Please select all that apply.)
[ ] Opportunities to learn via telehealth
[ ] Observation of clinical encounters in-person
[ ] Observation of clinical encounters via telehealth
[ ] Clinical experience with the population(s)
[ ] Education about the CLAS standards and their impact on the delivery 
of care
[ ] Instruction in cultural humility/competence and its impact on the 
delivery of care
[ ] Distance learning (virtual learning, web-based learning)
[ ] Supervision of the clinical experience with the population(s)

(4) Intentions to Stay/Leave Behavioral Health Field (Alumni Only)

    Additional items were added to better understand how the stress and 
burnout being witnessed in the health care workforce generally and 
behavioral health workforce in particular (due to COVID-19 pandemic) 
may have impacted alumni fellows' intentions to stay in or leave the 
field.
    The following questions ask about your intentions to stay in the 
mental or behavioral health field. Using the scales provided, indicate 
how often you think about leaving and the likelihood that you would 
leave.

(31) Do you consider your current job/practice/training as in the 
mental and behavioral health field?
_ No: Which field are you in? TEXT BOX (then skip to Q34)
_ Yes (ANSWER INTENTIONS 1 and 2 below)

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                                                                        2--A few      3--Once a     4--A few
                   31. Intentions--1                      1--Never    times a year    month or       times a      5--Once a     6--A few    7--Every day
                                                                         or less        less          month         week      times a week
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a. How often do you think about leaving your job/          [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]
 training program?....................................
b. How often do you think about leaving for another        [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]
 job/training program in the field?...................
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                                                       1--
                32. Intentions--2                   Extremely      2--Very      3--Somewhat     4--Neutral/   5--Somewhat     6--Very      7--Extremely
                                                    unlikely      unlikely        unlikely        Unsure        likely        likely          likely
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a. How likely is it that you will search for a       [ballot]      [ballot]         [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]         [ballot]
 job in the same primary role--e.g., clinical
 care, practice, teaching, research, prevention,
 administration/policy development?.............
b. How likely is it that you will actually leave     [ballot]      [ballot]         [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]      [ballot]         [ballot]
 the mental and behavioral health field next
 year?..........................................
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(33) If you are considering leaving the mental and behavioral health 
field, what is/are the primary driver(s)?
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(34) What changes are needed that would convince you to stay? [Limit 
characters to 450]
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Burden Estimate

    The total annual burden estimate for conducting the surveys is 
shown below:

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                                     Number of     Responses per   Total number      Hours per     Total burden
           Survey name              respondents     respondent     of responses      response          hours
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SAMHSA MFP Current Fellows                   411               1             411            0.42             173
 Survey.........................
SAMHSA MFP Alumni Survey........           1,280               1           1,280            0.42             538
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    Totals......................       \a\ 1,691  ..............           1,691  ..............             711
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\a\ This is an unduplicated count of total respondents.

    Send comments to Carlos Graham, SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, 
Room 15-E57, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857 OR email a copy at 
[email protected]. Written comments should be received by 
December 22, 2023.

Alicia Broadus,
Public Health Advisor
[FR Doc. 2023-23319 Filed 10-20-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P