Project CONTACT is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). As such, we are required to collect data that ultimately gets reported to congress. The measurement tool that SAMHSA grants use is call the National Outcome Metrics (NOMs). Previously, in our newsletters, we have reported on outcomes that our agency collects. To date, we have not reported on any of the NOMs.
In preparing for this month’s Notable Numbers, I thought it might be interesting to see if the satisfaction individuals have with the services we provide were in any way related to the outcomes they achieved. The idea was that perhaps folks who were less satisfied would also have demonstrated fewer gains in therapy.
I could not run this analysis. And that is actually a good thing. When I examined the satisfaction with services data in NOMs, I found that there was an overwhelmingly strong endorsement of our services. On this 14-point scale, the average response was 13.39. It’s gratifying to see that families are so pleased with the services we provide. But with so little variability, it’s not possible to use this metric as a factor in additional analyses.
Nevertheless, I did examine some of the NOMs outcome data and saw equally heartening results. In particular, as compared to how they felt before therapy, individuals expressed that after therapy they are experiencing significantly less negative emotions , (e.g., depression, nervousness, restlessness, hopelessness, etc.) based on a seven-point scale, {F(1,30)=72.5, p<.001.} as depicted in this graph:
