Information about our Survey for ASTHO Members

​With funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health is conducting a survey of state health department officials about children’s mental health issues.

We recognize that mental health does not fall within the scope of health department practice within many states. We have also contacted state mental health agency officials with requests to complete the survey and obtained a strong response rate of 65%. We are now hoping to complement that survey with the perspectives of other agency officials. We are looking to capture a range of perspectives from each state, not corroborate responses from different individuals in the same state. You also do not need to have expertise in mental health to complete the survey. Many of the questions are about broader issues and there are “not applicable to me in my role” response options in the survey.

The survey questions span three categories:

• your experiences using research related to children’s mental health;
• your preferences for receiving research;
• your perceptions of the extent to which different children’s mental health issues are priorities for your agency.

All of the questions are about your individual opinions and experiences—we are not asking for any factual information about your agency (e.g., spending on different services).  

​The survey should take about 10-15 minutes to complete. Your responses will be confidential, reported in aggregate, and we will not disclose your name, title, state, or any other identifying information when reporting results. We plan to publish survey findings in peer-review journals and will also e-mail you a brief report summarizing our findings at the end of the study. You can complete the survey on a computer or smartphone.     

​We will offer you a $20 Amazon gift card as a thank you for completing the survey. Enter your email address when prompted at the end of the survey to receive this. You do not have to accept the gift card if your agency prohibits you from doing so. 
  
For questions about the survey, please contact:
Jonathan Purtle, DrPH, MSc, Assistant Professor,
Department of Health Management & Policy,
Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: 267-359-6167

About the Research Project:  National Survey of State Policy Decisionmaking and Simulation

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click here for more information about our research project