A Practical Guide to Using Mental Health Assistant Data: The Corporate Data Warehouse Mental Health Domain

Hawkins EJ. A Practical Guide to Using Mental Health Assistant Data: The Corporate Data Warehouse Mental Health Domain. HSR&D Cyberseminars [Cyberseminar]. VIREC Database & Methods Cyberseminar Series. 2016 Sep 12.

This presentation is designed to introduce researchers new to the VA to the CDW Mental Health domain and to summarize our experience with specific data elements in a research context. Data elements available in the Mental Health Domain are collected primarily using the Mental Health Assistant, a specialty application that is used in the Computer Patient Record System (CPRS) to administer mental health-related assessments. The presentation will describe some of our work with data elements such as the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT-C) and the Brief Addiction Monitor (BAM), including potential limitations of these data. Results will also be presented from a research study comparing the prevalence of unhealthy alcohol use among Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) patients with and without TBI. Learning Objectives: - Introduce the CDW Mental Health domain - Describe the data elements available in the Mental Health domain - Provide examples of how specific data elements, such as the AUDIT-C and BAM, have been used. - Address potential limitations of these data.