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This Web site is a component of the SAMHSA Health Information Network. |
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Director's Report
September 4 & 5, 2003
SAMHSA's National Mental Health Information Center
Statistics
Web Site: The National Mental Health Information Center web site continues to attract a large number of visitors. On average, the site receives about 3.3 million hits per month and about 106,000 hits per day. Over the past several months, the pages that have been most popular include: the Home Page, Mental Health Facilities, Mental Health Services Database, State Statistics, and State Mental Health Resources. Since the last CHS National Advisory Council meeting in June 2003, the Information Center has seen some notable gains in numbers related to the web site's Shopping Cart page. The total number of visitor sessions on the Shopping Cart page nearly doubled, growing from 11,190 to 20,892, and the average number of daily hits on the Shopping Cart page increased dramatically from 373 to 12,265.
In 2002, the web site received a total of 33,814,807 hits, a substantial increase over the 2001 total of 19,540,328. As of July 2003, the site had received a total of 25,322,704. Given that the numbers for the first 6 months of the year are fast-approaching the yearly total of last year, it appears that the site's popularity and value are increasing and that SAMHSA/CHS is achieving its intended goal of meeting the public's mental health needs through this medium.
Publications Distribution: The National Mental Health Information Center continues to distribute a large number of publications. During the month of July, for example, nearly 109,000 publications were distributed in response to more than 34,000 requests. In addition to filling publications orders in response to requests, the Information Center also completed four special outreach mailings to State correctional and mental health department contacts.
Web Site Achievements
Internet Search Engines: The National Mental Health Information Center web site is listed among the top three mental health web sites on the most popular web indexes and search engines. To maintain this ranking, Information Center staff undertakes ongoing and consistent efforts to promote the web site, use search engine optimization strategies, add links, and update and expand web site content.
Recognition on Web Sites and in Articles: As a result of ongoing marketing and outreach efforts, the Information Center was featured as the Link of the Day on July 12, 2003, on www.refdesk.com, described as the single best source for facts on the Net. Refdesk indexes, reviews, and publishes quality, credible, and current information-based Web sites and assists readers in navigating these sites. The Information Center also was recognized as a resource in a cover story titled, "The Sick and the Dead," published in the July 11, 2003, issue of Washington City Paper. The article discusses the treatment needs of people with mental illnesses. In turn, this Washington City Paper cover story was referenced on www.idealist.org, a popular source of nonprofit and volunteering resources on the Web.
Web Site Improvements
Information Center staff continues to look for ways to improve the quality and content of the web site. Ongoing changes are making the site more user-friendly, reliable, and visually appealing. Recent improvements include:
- Site Redesign: are being implemented for a complete redesign of the http://mentalhealth.samhsa.gov web site. The primary goals of the redesign are to upgrade the site and to present information in a more user-friendly manner.
- Descriptions of Resources: Changes were made to enhance the descriptions of resources on the web site. The mental health links area of the site was updated and improved to provide more concise keyword associations and definitions. Two-hundred forty descriptions also were added to the mental health links.
- New Hotline Numbers Page: A new page was created on the web site to provide users with national toll-free help line numbers and State crisis hotline numbers. As part of ongoing efforts to institute more Spanish-language features on the web site, the new web page also features bilingual and Spanish-language help line and crisis hotline numbers and links to the help line web sites.
- New Mental Health HIV Services Program Page: A new web page was created for grantees of the Mental Health HIV Services Collaborative Program. The page is protected by a password, and it is expected that program grantees will begin using the new page as early as October 2003.
- Newsroom Articles Section: Web site staff continues to update and maintain the newsroom articles section of the web site to ensure that the information presented is both current and accurate.
- Publications Database: Web site staff regularly updates the publications database of the web site and makes additions as new publications become available. Staff also generates descriptive keywords from the title or text of new publications that allow users to access publications from various sections of the web site.
- External Links: Web site staff regularly monitors all links from the Information Center web site to external sources to ensure they are appropriate and provide pertinent mental health information. Staff also regularly checks the external links to verify that they still exist. When a site has been moved or deleted, updates are made to the database.
- Services for Hearing Impaired Users: Efforts continue to make the entire Information Center web site accessible to hearing impaired users of the web site, including the text of videos on the site. All Web cast videos are being transcribed, and closed captioning will be created and added after the transcriptions are completed.
Other Efforts to Support SAMHSA
Commission on Mental Health: The National Mental Health Information Center is distributing the final report of the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. Since the report was placed in inventory on June 23, 2003, staff has distributed 3,431 copies of the full report and 3,120 copies of the executive summary, and more requests are being received every day. Since the final report was released, Information Center staff also has been fielding a flurry of questions and comments regarding the Commission's work. The Commission was formally disbanded in April 2003. Since that time, the Commission's web site has automatically redirected public inquiries to the National Mental Health Information Center.
National HIV Prevention Conference: SAMHSA's National Mental Health Information Center was among the exhibitors to display materials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National HIV Prevention Conference, held July 27-30, 2003, in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference provided an opportunity to inform participants about CHS HIV/AIDS programs and activities. This conference, which was held for the third year, brings together all the various players in the HIV prevention arena. It is the only national conference to focus solely on HIV prevention.
Support for Consumer Affairs: National Mental Health Information staff continues to support CHS Consumer Affairs Program staff in preparing responses to "controlled correspondence." These are letters and faxes from members of the general public to the President, First Lady, Vice President, Secretary of Health and Human Services, other high-ranking Cabinet officials, and members of Congress requesting information and/or assistance with a wide range of mental health problems. These letters are then forwarded to the Information Center for a timely response. Information Center staff carefully review each letter to determine the nature of the request and prepare an appropriate response based on boilerplate language previously developed.
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