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SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH DATA ARCHIVE (SAMHDA)
Description:
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (SAMHDA) is an initiative of the Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The goal of the archive is to provide ready access to substance abuse and mental health research data and to promote the sharing of these data among researchers, academics, policymakers, service providers, and others, thereby increasing the use of the data in understanding and assessing substance abuse and mental health problems and the impact of related treatment systems. The data archive is also intended to expand the variety of media on which data are available and ensure that data are in user friendly format. The project involves archiving data, establishing a website as a vehicle for making the data and other substance abuse and mental health research information publicly available, and providing training in the use of the data. Some of the data acquired and archived under SAMHDA have never before been publicly distributed. Data files, documentation, and reports are downloadable from the website and in public use format. The website features an online data analysis system (DAS) that allows users to conduct analyses on selected datasets within the archive. Eventually, the DAS may be used with all of the data in the archive. A user support help line is also available. SAMHDA is part of a larger project, the National Archive and Analytic Center for Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Data. The archive and website work is being carried out by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan under a sub-contract to the National Organization for Research at the University of Chicago (NORC), based at the University of Chicago.
