Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request

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 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 (301) 443-7978.

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 Organized Consumer Self-Help Entities--

New

The self-help movement in the United States has mushroomed, and

increasingly serves mental health consumers and family members as a

complement to, or substitution for, traditional mental health services.

The purposes of this project of SAMHSA's Center for Mental Health

Services are to estimate the number of self-help entities nationwide

and to describe their characteristics--structure, types of activities

engaged in, approaches to well-being and recovery, resources, and

linkages to other entities in the community, such as the mental health

service delivery system. The survey will gather information from a

sample of 3,000 mental health self-help entities run by and for

recipients of mental health services and/or their family members. Data

will be collected from three types of self-help entities: mutual

support groups; self-help organizations; and, consumer-operated

businesses and services. Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing

(CATI) will be used to conduct interviews with in-scope entities. The

total response burden estimate is shown below.

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Average

Number of Responses/ burden/ Total

Instrument respondents respondent response burden

(Hrs) (Hrs)

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Screener......................................................... 7,600 1 .17 1,292

Questionnaire.................................................... 3,000 1 .42 1,260

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Total........................................................ ........... .......... ......... 2,552

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Send comments to Nancy Pearce, SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer,

Room 16-105, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857.

Written comments should be received within 60 days of this notice.

Dated: December 23, 1999.

Richard Kopanda,

Executive Officer, SAMHSA.

[FR Doc. 99-33946 Filed 12-29-99; 8:45 am]

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