Measuring trauma : workshop summary of the Workshop on Integrating New Measures of Trauma into the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Data Collection Programs, which was held in Washington, D.C., in December 2015.

This report summarizes the presentations and discussions at the Workshop on Integrating New Measures of Trauma into the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Data Collection Programs, which was held in Washington, D.C., in December 2015. The workshop was organized as part of an effort to assist SAMHSA and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in their responsibilities to expand the collection of behavioral health data in several areas. The workshop was structured to bring together experts in the measurement of exposure to traumatic events, the measurement of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and health survey methods to facilitate discussion of measures and mechanisms most promising for expanding SAMHSA’s data collections in this area. The overall effort is being overseen by the Standing Committee on Integrating New Behavioral Health Measures into the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Data Collection Programs. In addition to the topics covered by this workshop, SAMHSA and ASPE are interested in expanding data collection on serious emotional disturbance in children, on specific mental illness diagnoses with functional impairment, and on recovery from substance use or mental disorder. Workshops on all four topics were held as part of the overall effort, and reports from the first two workshop have been published. (Author/publisher)