Autism Secondary Data Analysis Research Program

needs of underserved populations for whom there is limited evidence of the effectiveness of interventions, and limited access to screening, diagnosis, and treatment for ASD/DD.2 HRSA supports programs to improve the quality of care for those diagnosed with ASD/DD through education, early detection, and intervention. More specifically, the Autism SDAR program accelerates the pace of research by providing researchers with the opportunity to pose new research questions, test hypotheses, challenge existing paradigms or clinical practices, and explore the feasibility of interventions using existing data sets. The use of existing data sets helps researchers obtain results more efficiently, at a lower cost. Innovative methods (e.g., meta-analyses) and secondary analysis of existing national databases and/or administrative records are encouraged (e.g., National Survey of Children’s Health (HRSA), National Database for Autism Research (National Institutes of Health (NIH)), Medicaid (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), National Health Interview Survey (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)) and Mental Health Research Network Database (NIH)). The Autism SDAR program’s goals and objectives are to: • Generate new evidence to address the needs of underserved ASD/DD populations3 for whom there is limited evidence of the effectiveness of interventions, and limited access to screening, diagnosis, and treatment for ASD/DD; • Contribute to a broad public health impact by improving patient engagement and care delivery through studies that are generalizable and replicable across underserved ASD/DD populations; • Develop and implement a plan to disseminate applied and/or translational research through at least two peer-reviewed research articles related to the project (e.g., findings on research planning, participant recruitment, methods, implementation and/or research challenges, preliminary or unexpected research findings, in addition to final research findings) and to scientific, professional, lay audiences, and federal partners.