The workshop summarized in this report was organized as part of a study sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with the goal of assisting SAMHSA in its responsibilities of expanding the collection of behavioral health data in several areas. The workshop brought together experts in child mental health, psychiatric epidemiology and survey methods to facilitate discussion of the most suitable measures and mechanisms for producing estimates of serious emotional disturbance in children, which are necessary to enable the distribution of block grants that support state-level mental health services for children. The report discusses existing measures and data on mental disorders and functional impairment, challenges associated with collecting these data in large-scale population-based studies, as well as study design and estimation options.

The workshop summarized in this report was organized as part of a study sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with the goal of assisting SAMHSA in its responsibilities of expanding the collection of behavioral health data in several areas. The workshop brought together experts in child mental health, psychiatric epidemiology and survey methods to facilitate discussion of the most suitable measures and mechanisms for producing estimates of serious emotional disturbance in children, which are necessary to enable the distribution of block grants that support state-level mental health services for children. The report discusses existing measures and data on mental disorders and functional impairment, challenges associated with collecting these data in large-scale population-based studies, as well as study design and estimation options.

BACKGROUND: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which was revised from DSM-IV to DSM-5 in 2013, provides the current criteria for measuring childhood mental health disorders. The Federal Register provides the definition of serious emotional disturbance (SED) based on DSM-III-R criteria. The purpose of this report is to describe the differences between the DSM-IV and DSM-5 diagnostic criteria that could affect national estimates of childhood SED, as defined in the Federal Register. METHOD: The report reviewed the wording and criteria related to childhood mental disorders under DSM-IV and DSM-5 and assessed the implications of the changes for generating estimates of SED and whether these revisions align with the Federal Register definition of SED. The report also described plans to integrate the DSM-5 changes into the leading diagnostic instruments for assessing childhood mental disorders. RESULTS: The DSM-5 changes raise issues relevant to the definition of SED and which disorders are included in SED. CONCLUSION: Decisions will need to be made about which disorders within the new DSM-5 are included under the SED definition, and the disorders excluded from SED will need to be identified and explicitly stated. The DSM-5 changes will also narrow the number of diagnostic measures to be considered for use in children's mental health surveillance efforts until diagnostic instruments are updated to explicitly use DSM-5 diagnostic criteria.

Contains evaluations and analyses of programs and management at federal departments and agencies.

The Workshop on Integrating New Measures of Trauma into the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) Data Collection Programs, held in Washington, D.C. in December 2015, was organized as part of an effort to assist SAMHSA and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in their responsibilities to expand the collection of behavioral health data to include measures of trauma. The main goals of the workshop were to discuss options for collecting data and producing estimates on exposure to traumatic events and PTSD, including available measures and associated possible data collection mechanisms. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.