TTA Public Comments Response Matrix

TTA Public Comments Response Matrix- 2-18-2022_Final.pdf

Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program Monitoring

TTA Public Comments Response Matrix

OMB: 0930-0389

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Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comments Request 0930-XXXX Training and Technical Assistance Programs Monitoring (TTA) 86 FR 49042 (September 01, 2021)
Summary of Comments and SAMHSA’s Responses as of 11/01/2021
Date Received Organizations
10/14/2021
Emery-Triburcio

Form
Event Description Form

Summary of Comments
SAMHSA Response
Under “Event Type,” please specify more explicitly the difference between a
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
“Presentation” and “Training?” For example, does a training result in a certification or made revisions to the instrument.
accreditation or does a training imply a certain amount of hours? How would you
describe the difference between a presentation and training on the same topic?

10/15/2021

Rafael Rivera - Illinois
DHHS

Event Description Form

10/7/2021

Sandra Del Sesto, M.Ed, Post Event Form
ACPS
Jess Draws, TTS
Post Event form
Specialist

Event Primary Audience : Any reason that one type of community was targeted and not SAMHSA is tasked with reporting to Congress
others or why not included under community members since the type is the same?
annually on events provided to specific populations.
To minimize public response burden the categories
have been kept to on data that is required for
reporting.
Add "Prevention Provider" under the respondent dropdown list on the Primary
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
Occupation - Question 7
made revisions to the instrument.
Suggested to change Question 1 "What is your gender" to a different iteration of the
SAMHSA has made revisions to this question on
two-part ask that allows respondents to elevate their gender and secondarily offer their multiple instruments based on public comments. A
trans status ( Attachment 1)
revision was made to this instrument to align it with
other SAMHSA data collection instruments.
Under “Event Primary Audience,” please add “peer support services” to the list of
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
“Healthcare providers” so it reads “…mental health treatment, recovery, and peer
made revisions to the instrument.
support services…” This statement should stay consistent on all forms, attachments 13.
Under Primary Audience, please change “Health Care Providers or Organizations” to SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
“Professionals.”
made revisions to the instrument.
Primary audience does not include key learners, including other professionals not
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
generally characterized in the list provided. Please include: Case manager/care
made revisions to the instrument.
coordinator; Manager/supervisor of social service organization; Faith-based
organization or faith leader

10/7/2021

10/14/2021

Emery-Triburcio

Event Description Form

10/14/2021

Emery-Triburcio

Event Description Form

10/14/2021

Emery-Triburcio

Post Event Form

10/14/2021

Emery-Triburcio

Post Event Form

Change the Gender Question - ATTACHMENT 2 - The term “female to male” and
“male to female” is very medicalized and about sex characteristics rather than gender.
These phrases also presume that the person was one gender and decided to change to
another as opposed to always being their defined gender.
The term “gender nonconforming” presumes there is something to conform to. This
term is outdated most people shy away from using it. Lastly, “transgender” is not
technically a gender identity, so the option to select “transgender” as an identity is not a
valid selection. Transgender is not a noun as the other genders are. “Transgender” must
be used as an adjective to gender: “a transgender man” or “transgender woman” is most
appropriate.

SAMHSA has made revisions to this question on
multiple instruments based on public comments. A
revision was made to this instrument to align it with
other SAMHSA data collection instruments.

10/14/2021

Emery-Triburcio

Post Event Form

10/14/2021

Emery-Triburcio

Post Event Form

SAMHSA has made revisions to this question on
multiple instruments based on public comments. A
revision was made to this instrument to align it with
other SAMHSA data collection instruments.
SAMHSA has made revisions to this question on
multiple instruments based on public comments. A
revision was made to this instrument to align it with
other SAMHSA data collection instruments.

10/14/2021

Emery-Triburcio

Post Event Form

For the question about race, please consider adding additional race categories and
inserting logic into the question on race. It can feel invalidating that certain race
categories are given specific ethnicities when others are not. Please consider revising
the question to read (with logic in red): ATTATCMENT 3
Consider changing the wording for the sexual orientation question to read (Attachment
4) - Item “d” as it currently is written combines three identities that mean different
things to different people. It is best to separate them out. Further, “refused” as an item
of selection replies non-compliance when people may just be safe guarding their private
information.
Under question 5 “Please select the best category that describes your community,”
please consider changing the term “urban” to “metropolitan.”. “Urban” is a term that is
plagued with racial stereotypes and has been historically used as coded language to
describe areas with a high population of Black or African American people.

10/14/2021

Emery-Triburcio

Post Event Form

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.

10/14/2021

Emery-Triburcio

Post Event Form

10/14/2021

Emery-Triburcio

Post Event Form

10/14/2021

Emery-Triburcio

Post Event Form

10/14/2021

Emery-Triburcio

Post Event Form

Under Question 6 “What is the highest degree you have received,” please remove “but
no degree” after “some college” and add “Professional Certification” as an option.
“Some college” is sufficient for data collection purposes since the option to select
degrees proceeds it. The “but no college” part of the answer may make people feel as if
their amount of college is not sufficient. Further, by adding “Professional Certification”
as an option, we can acknowledge the importance of a range of other types of
education.
Under question 7 “What is your primary occupation/profession,” please include “Faith
Leader” as an option.
Under Question 7 “What is your primary occupation/profession,”
o Please remove the “I am” from “I am a family member/caregiver” and “I am retired”
so that it is consistent with the other options and does not marginalize this group of
people.
Under Question 9 “What is your principal employment setting,” please add “Familyrun or consumer-run organization.”
Under question 9 “What is your principal employment setting,”: Please spell out
FQHC; Please add “Aging Services Network”; Please change “select one” to “check all
that apply,” as many people have multiple employment settings.

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.
SAMHSA agrees with most of this recommendation
and has made revisions to the instrument. However,
SAMHSA has not made a revision to the "select one"
option as selection of multiples could lead to a
misrepresentation of this data. The use of the term
"principal" in the questions means, "What is your
main or primary work setting?"

10/13/2021

Shelbie Johnson

Post event Form

For the question, “What is your race,” the selections will likely be a controversial topic
among trainees due to the fact that there is an expansive list of Asian nationalities, but
no
others. Our team wondered if there is a reason the options were written this way. If so,
it
would be helpful to have that explained on the form itself.
·

SAMHSA has made revisions to this question on
multiple instruments based on public comments. A
revision was made to this instrument to align it with
other SAMHSA data collection instruments.

10/13/2021

Shelbie Johnson

Post Event Form

10/15/2021

Rafael Rivera - Illinois
DHHS

Post Event Form

For question number five, our team suggests asking for the category that describes the
community the trainee works in. This will help eliminate confusion.
On the race question: Is this from the census and if so are e-j options?

10/15/2021

Rafael Rivera - Illinois
DHHS
Emery-Triburcio

Post Event Form

Post event form question 13 - Is behavioral health care is identified as heath care?

Follow up Form

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.
SAMHSA has made revisions to this question on
multiple instruments based on public comments. A
revision was made to this instrument to align it with
other SAMHSA data collection instruments.
SAMHSA has identified behavioral health care as
health care.
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.

10/14/2021

Catherine Milliken
LCSW, LADC, CCS,
ICAPII

Follow up Form

Follow up Form - Under “Unique Identifying Instructions,” please specify what
MM/DD the user needs to enter. Is this a birth date, the date of the event, the date of
the survey?
If I understand the process correctly, there are three forms, the last of which is
SAMHSA appreciates the comment and has taken it
disseminated for a percentage of participants in events 3 hours or longer. The first two into consideration.
forms seem reasonable (ease of completion in the time estimated) and valuable
regarding the data collection. I am not sure the third form will be of the same value and
curious regarding the response rate. I hope this is helpful.

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Event Description Form

We think that some of the questions could use clarification to maximize the reliability SAMHSA concludes this comment is related to the
and validity of the data entered (described below). Another consideration is how events data collection system rather than the proposed
collaborated on by multiple TTCs should be entered. In the current system, if 10 TTCs instrument.
collaborate on a single event, then the event is listed 10 times total (once for each
TTC). This made it impossible for us to determine the total number of events for the
time period assessed as part of the National TTC Evaluation. This is critical because
the total number of events would have been a significant variable that could have been
used in various analyses; however, because it was not deemed to be reliable or valid, we
were severely limited in providing any meaningful analyses from the event data.

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Event Description Form

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Event Description Form

Date - Is this referring to the date of the event? What should be entered if it is a multiday event? How should asynchronous events (e.g., self-paced online modules) be
handled? We suggest clarifying with something like “Date of event” (or other
specification of what is meant by ”date”).
Location: Is this referring to the location of the event? If so, what is the unit of location
you are wanting (e.g., school/organization, city, state, ZIP code, street address, etc.)?
What should be entered for online events? We suggest being specific in what should be
reported. This is an issue that we encountered when analyzing the event data collected
using the current GPRA instrument (as part of the National TTC Evaluation). There
was a wide range of responses, some indicating the city and state, others using street
addresses or ”online,” ”virtual,” etc., which made it challenging to analyze the data
(using this variable) in any meaningful way.

10/14/2021

SAMHSA is referring to the date the event is created
in the data collection system.

SAMHSA is referring to "location" as where the
training took place: virtual, school, conference center,
etc...

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Event Description Form

Program - This needs more clarification. Is the program referring to the entire program SAMHSA appreciates the comment and has taken it
(e.g., the TTC network), or is it referring to specific ATTCs, MHTTCs, or PTTCs?
into consideration.

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Event Description Form

The event code is created by the organizer to
distinguish events by subject or other indicators
important for grantee records management.

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Event Description Form

Event Code - What does this represent? What information should be provided? This is
an issue we encountered with the National TTC Evaluation. While the TTCs specified a
protocol for the event code (which would provide information about which TTC created
the event and the event type), it was clear that some TTCs did not adhere to this
protocol. For example, the event code protocol (as it is currently) should include both
numeric and alphabetic characters. However, some event codes entered were all
numeric or all alphabetic.
Total Number of participants - Is this referring to the total number of participants that
registered for the event? or attended the event? or completed the event? How should
this be handled for asynchronous events (e.g., self-paced online training modules)?
Would TTCs need to go into the system to update the numbers periodically? We ran
into this issue when analyzing the event GPRA data as part of the National TTC
Evaluation. Many of the events were listed as one-person events, when in actuality they
were online courses (assumed to be asynchronous). In these cases, we were not able to
determine the actual total number of participants reached, which hindered our ability to
conduct a meaningful analysis of this data set.

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Event Description Form

Is this question designed to collect information on the primary audience(s) that the
event was intending to reach? Or just the primary audience(s) that it actually reached?
Either way, this should be specified on the GPRA form to ensure that the data provided
is consistent and accurate. What was the rationale behind selecting the audiences listed
in the response options? It seems like this question may be aimed at gathering
information on events that are intended for under-represented populations/communities
(e.g., American Indian/Alaskan Native, rural communities). If yes, why were these
groups selected but other underrepresented groups were not (e.g., LGBTQ+,
Latina/o/x)? What was the rationale for including healthcare providers,
students/educators, and community members as response options (along with the
underrepresented populations/communities)?

SAMHSA is tasked with reporting to Congress
annually on events provided to specific populations.
To minimize public response burden the categories
have been kept to on data that is required for
reporting.

11/1/2021

Pacific Southwest ATTC Event Description Form

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.

11/1/2021

Pacific Southwest ATTC Event Description Form

10/29/2021

MHTTC Team

Sufficient differentiation does not exist between the “Presentation” and “Training”
response event categories. We suggest renaming one or both, combining them into one
category, or more clearly defining/differentiating them from one another.
The “Healthcare Providers or Organizations” category does not include counseling
professionals, such as marriage and family therapists, social workers, etc. Consider
adding non‐healthcare professions as examples of Community Members, like the
“Primary Occupation” item on the Post Event form (e.g., criminal justice/law
enforcement professional). Provide more differentiation between “Community
Members” and “Rural Communities” (e.g., Metropolitan Communities).
Definition of healthcare providers or organizations. Change to the following to be
more inclusive of participants based on them being either healthcare
professional/paraprofessionals or staff from organizations: (practicing professional
and paraprofessional healthcare providers, including substance use and mental health
prevention, treatment, recovery, and peer support services, or staff of local, state,
tribal, and other healthcare organizations )

Event Description Form

The total number of participants refers the number of
people who attended an event. If the event is a selfpaced online training this variable will be left blank.
The number of online participants will be collected
by the grantee once participants register to take the
training and reported on annual reports.

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.

10/29/2021

Gail Cormier - NFSTAC Event Description Form

Under “Event Type,” please specify more explicitly the difference between a
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
“Presentation” and “Training?” For example, does a training result in a certification or made revisions to the instrument.
accreditation or does a training imply a certain number of hours? How would you
describe the difference between a presentation and a training on the same topic?

10/29/2021

Gail Cormier - NFSTAC Event Description Form

10/29/2021

Gail Cormier - NFSTAC Event Description Form

10/29/2021

Gail Cormier - NFSTAC Event Description Form

10/29/2021

Gail Cormier - NFSTAC Event Description Form

11/1/2021

Central East TTC

Event Description Form

Under “Event Primary Audience,” please add “peer support services” to the list of
“Healthcare providers” so it reads: “…mental health treatment, recovery, and peer
support services…”
Under Primary Audience, please change “Health Care Providers or Organizations” to
“Professionals.” . Add “peer support services” to this bullet so it reads “…mental
health treatment, recovery, and peer support services”
Primary audience does not include key learners, including other professionals not
generally characterized in the list provided. Please include: Case manager/care
coordinator ; Manager/supervisor of social service organization ; Faith-based
organization or faith leader ; Should mention more than paraprofessionals, it should be
clear to include peer specialists individually
Primary audience does not include key learners, including other professionals not
generally characterized in the list provided. Please include: Case manager/care
coordinator ; Manager/supervisor of social service organization ; Faith leader
Primary Audience: Please add Faith-based organization or faith leader

11/1/2021

Central East TTC

Event Description Form

10/29/2021

Gail Cormier - NFSTAC Post Event form

10/29/2021

Gail Cormier - NFSTAC Post Event form

10/29/2021

Gail Cormier - NFSTAC Post Event form

10/29/2021

Gail Cormier - NFSTAC Post Event form

10/29/2021

Gail Cormier - NFSTAC Post Event form

10/29/2021

Gail Cormier - NFSTAC Post Event form

10/29/2021

Gail Cormier - NFSTAC Post Event form

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.
Event Type: Please provide more detail to differentiate between a Presentation and
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
Training
made revisions to the instrument.
Under “What is your principal employment setting?” - Please spell out FQHC; Please SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
add “Aging Services Network” ; Please change “Select one” to “Check all that apply,” made revisions to the instrument.
as many people have multiple employment settings.
Under “What is your principal employment setting,” please add “Family-run or
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
consumer-run organization.”
made revisions to the instrument.
Under “What is your primary occupation/profession,” please include “Faith Leader” as SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
an option. ” Please remove the “I am” from “I am a family member/caregiver” and “I made revisions to the instrument.
am retired” so that it is consistent with the other options and does not marginalize this
group of people.
Under “What is the highest degree you have received,” please remove “but no degree” SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
after “Some college” and add “Professional Certification” as an option.
made revisions to the instrument.
Community definition: 4.
Under “Please select the best category that describes your
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
community,” please consider changing the term “urban” to “metropolitan.”
made revisions to the instrument.
SAMHSA has made revisions to this question on
Sexual Orientation - suggestion at Attachment 10
multiple instruments based on public comments. A
revision was made to this instrument to align it with
other SAMHSA data collection instruments.
Race: How about simply making this a fill-in-the-blank option? There are multiple
SAMHSA has made revisions to this question on
races and ethnicities in our American melting pot. Let individuals fill in their
multiple instruments based on public comments. A
race/ethnicity instead. It can feel invalidating when certain race categories are given
revision was made to this instrument to align it with
specific ethnicities and others are not. Please consider revising the question to read:
other SAMHSA data collection instruments.
“What is your race/ethnicity____________?”

10/29/2021

Gail Cormier - NFSTAC Post Event form

Gender - suggesting pn Attachment 9

SAMHSA has made revisions to this question on
multiple instruments based on public comments. A
revision was made to this instrument to align it with
other SAMHSA data collection instruments.

10/29/2021

MHTTC Team

Post Event form

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.

10/29/2021

MHTTC Team

Post Event form

10/29/2021

MHTTC Team

Post Event form

10/29/2021

MHTTC Team

Post Event form

11/1/2021

CASAT - Univ Nevada

Post Event form

Primary Occupation: Include Prevention specialist, Case manager/care coordinator,
Manager/supervisor of social service organization, Faith leader. Change ‘Peer or
recovery specialist’ to ‘Peer recovery specialist’ (recovery specialist is the previous
category)
Defining Community: Is this a ‘select all’ or ‘select one’ . If select one, then someone
from a tribal community doesn’t have the opportunity to choose urban/suburban, or
rural/frontier
Birth Date: With the personal code now including birth month and day, and this
question including birth year, we would now have the person’s entire birthdate, which
is identifying information. If the intent of this question is to ask the person’s age, then
ask it directly “Your age (in years)”
Identifier: Change to “Provide information to develop a unique personal code’ (the
word ‘identifying’ might lead people to think we intend to identify them). Change
FIRST 3 LAST NAME to a different question. Last name is an identifier. Add
instructions for MM/DD - MM/DD of your birth month
primary occupation/profession - add Prevention specialist, prevention program staff, or
coalition coordinator; - Prevention coalition director or supervisor of prevention
specialist, program staff, or coalition coordinator; K-12 educator or school counselor

11/1/2021

CASAT - Univ Nevada

Post Event form

11/1/2021

CASAT - Univ Nevada

Post Event form

11/1/2021

CASAT - Univ Nevada

Post Event form

11/1/2021

CASAT - Univ Nevada

Post Event form

Question 8 - please add Prevention science (prevention specialist is not a field of study,
it is a job title); Human development and family studies
Question 9 - please add Community coalition; - State/jurisdiction/territorial/tribal
government; - County or local government
Question 13 - rephrase - Delete “If you are a practicing healthcare provider (if not SKIP
this question)--most prevention specialists and others working in prevention would not
consider themselves healthcare providers and would skip this question, or it needs to
explicitly state that it includes prevention) and rephrase the rest: “I expect this event
will improve my ability to work effectively.”
Add one more open ended question: What about the event was most useful to you?

11/1/2021

AI/AN TTC Tram

Post Event form

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.
it would be very beneficial to include a second open-ended question in the GPRA-PEF SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
related to what the individual found most beneficial about the event they just attended. made revisions to the instrument.

11/1/2021

AI/AN TTC Tram

Post Event form

The use of the inclusion criteria of “if you are a practicing healthcare provider…” for SAMHSA appreciates the comment and has taken it
Q. 13 in the New GPRA-PEF and Q.9 in the New GPRA-FU is too narrow and does
into consideration.
not reflect the diverse professional representation of individuals who attend TTA
events. For example, of the roughly 9,000 GPRA-PEFs collected by our organization in
which the respondent listed their primary profession, the most frequently listed
professions were Counselor (17%), Social Worker (17%), Addictions Professional
(13%), Educator (5.1%), and Peer Professional (4%). Though these individuals may not
identify as a “practicing healthcare providers”, it is still the mission of the TTAs to
provide TA/events that in which participants will have an improved ability to practice
effectively. As such, we recommend the inclusion criteria of being “a practicing
healthcare provider” be removed from Q.13 in the New GPRA-PEF and Q.9 in the New
GPRA-FU.

11/1/2021

AI/AN TTC Tram

Post Event form

11/1/2021

AI/AN TTC Tram

Post Event form

10/29/2021

ATTC/PTTC Feedback

Post Event form

10/29/2021

ATTC/PTTC Feedback

Post Event form

10/29/2021

ATTC/PTTC Feedback

Post Event form

asking for the participant’s date of birth (month and year) also jeopardizes the
anonymity of the survey respondents
By asking participants to enter their zip code and the first 3 letters of their last name,
the GPRA survey is no longer anonymous. Many of our participants come from small
tribal communities in which that information could easily be used to identify the
respondent.
Unique Identifier - In red, it says “Provide unique identifying instructions”.
“Instructions” doesn’t seem like the right word. We suggest “Please provide unique
identifying information”
Unique Identifier - The MM/DD of the first 4 characters do not specify what date is
being requested. It should be made clear that it is asking for the birth month and day so
that people do not accidentally enter the month and day of the current date.
Unique Identifier - Personal Code now asks for “FIRST 3 LAST NAME”. - If a
participant provides the first 3 letters of their last name, it will be easy for the event
organizers to know which GPRA responses came from which participants of the event.
The responses will no longer be anonymous. To keep responses anonymous, we would
recommend either Eliminate those 3 letters from the personal code entirely. A 9character code that is just MM/DD of birth date and a 5 digit zip code seems likely to
be unique, or instead of last name, ask for the first 3 letters of some name or word that
is not as easy to match with a participant. These kinds of requests are common in
security questions. For example, first 3 letters of: City you were born in; Name of your
favorite pet; Name of your first school. If “FIRST 3 LAST NAME” is not eliminated or
changed to something else, then we suggest writing out “FIRST 3 LETTERS OF LAST
NAME”

10/29/2021

ATTC/PTTC Feedback

Post Event form

10/29/2021

ATTC/PTTC Feedback

Post Event form

10/29/2021

ATTC/PTTC Feedback

Post Event form

Proposed revision on Question 1 - Gender - Attachment 5

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.

SAMHSA has made revisions to this question on
multiple instruments based on public comments. A
revision was made to this instrument to align it with
other SAMHSA data collection instruments.
Proposed revision on Question 4 - Sexual Orientation - Attachment 6
SAMHSA has made revisions to this question on
multiple instruments based on public comments. A
revision was made to this instrument to align it with
other SAMHSA data collection instruments.
Question 6 - Under “What is the highest degree you have received,” please remove “but SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
no degree” after “some college” and add “Professional Certification” as an option.
made revisions to the instrument.

10/29/2021

ATTC/PTTC Feedback

Post Event form

10/29/2021

ATTC/PTTC Feedback

Post Event form

10/29/2021

ATTC/PTTC Feedback

Post Event form

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Post Event form

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Post Event form

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Post Event form

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Post Event form

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Post Event form

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Post Event form

Question 5 - Under “Please select the best category that describes your community,”
please consider changing the term “urban” to “metropolitan.”
Question 7 - Add “Prevention specialist”
Question 8 - 7.
Under “If you are a student, what is your primary field of study?”:
Change “J. Prevention Specialist” to “J. Prevention Science”.
This question should have more specific instructions on the information that you are
requesting for the personal code (to ensure the reliability and validity of the data).
Does the month and day refer to the date they are filling out the GPRA? If so, that will
be problematic for matching post-event and follow-up data (which would defeat the
purpose of having a unique ID, since the date they fill out the post-event and follow-up
forms would be different). If this is referring to the date of the event, will the GPRA
form pre-populate the date of the event on the follow-up form? If not, then how would
participants know what date to enter? The participants may enter the incorrect date,
which may not match with their follow-up response (if the event is three hours or longer
and they are asked to complete the follow-up form). Is the ZIP code referring to the
respondents’ place of primary employment or primary residence? It would be helpful to
clarify. Do you mean the first three letters of their last name (for the last three
characters of the personal code)?
Question 1 - Maybe change the response option “Refused” to “Prefer not to answer” or
“Prefer not to respond”?
Question 3 - What is the purpose of asking this question, and what does the asterisk (*)
signify?

Question 4 - Consider changing option e to “Other, please specify” (like the question
about highest degree received).
Question 6 -
Consider adding an option (or clarify in the question) for this situation: if
someone is currently pursuing a given degree or taking classes, they should respond
only with degrees they have already obtained. There were a significant number of
written responses to “Other, please specify” that indicated respondents have a given
degree but are also currently pursuing another degree. If the open-ended responses to
“Other” are not carefully reviewed, coded, and reclassified (which is very time
consuming), then the validity of these data will likely be limited due to the inflated
number of responses to “Other.” There were also a large number of people who
selected “Other” and indicated that they have various certifications or diplomas, which
posed difficulties in our analysis of this data using the current GPRA instrument.

SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.
SAMHSA has made revisions to this question on
multiple instruments based on public comments. A
revision was made to this instrument to align it with
other SAMHSA data collection instruments.
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.
SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
made revisions to the instrument.

Question 7 - Consider changing the wording to something like, “Which of the following SAMHSA agrees with this recommendation and has
best describes your occupation/profession?” An issue we encountered when reviewing made revisions to the instrument.
the text responses to “Other, please specify” was that a significant number of people
selected “Other” and then specified a more specific version of one of the response
options. For example, instead of selecting “Counselor,” someone may select “Other”
and specify “Addictions counseling” as their profession. This created an inflated
number of other specified results, which can be time consuming to analyze.

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Post Event form

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Post Event form

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Post Event form

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Post Event form

10/29/2021

Prevention Insights

Post Event form

11/1/2021