Confidentiality is critical to this research effort and RTI places great importance on maintaining the highest standards of confidentiality and integrity of participants’ data. Both SAMHSA and RTI International are committed to assuring the complete confidentiality of all responses to the NSDUH Follow-up Study.
You cannot be identified through any information you give us. Your name and address will never be connected to your answers. Your answers will be combined with those from the other study participants. The results of the study will come from the combined answers, and there will not be a way to individually identify you or your answer.
Federal law requires us to keep all your answers private and confidential. Any information you give us will only be used by authorized personnel for statistical purposes according to the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002. The only exceptions to this promise of confidentiality are if you tell the interviewer that you intend to seriously harm yourself or someone else, or if a child has been or will be seriously harmed. In these situations, the interviewer may need to notify a mental health professional or other authorities.
For more information related to project confidentiality, see NSDUH – Confidentiality.