The State and Local Area Integrated Telephone Survey (SLAITS) mechanism, takes advantage of the extensive work required by the National Immunization Survey (NIS) to screen households to identify the small number with NIS age-eligible children. The SLAITS interview is conducted once the NIS interview is complete or upon determination that the household is ineligible for the NIS.
To date, NORC has conducted these SLAITS surveys:
The flexibility of the SLAITS mechanism was amply demonstrated during administration of the NS-CSHCN. In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, additional items were quickly embedded into the survey to evaluate the specific health and welfare impacts of the evacuation on these special needs children and their families, including their ability to find:
- appropriate shelter and access to medical care,
- prescription medication,
- mental health services,
- durable equipment, and
- other special therapies.
Similarly, SLAITS was tested in 2006 as a quick-turnaround mechanism to address future data needs that may arise from an emergent public health event, such as Avian Influenza. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), an experimental data collection effort was designed to evaluate the administration of influenza immunizations in children during the 2005-06 flu season, as well as the presence in children of risk factors for which the immunization is indicated. More than 9,000 interviews were completed over the three-month period that ended in August, 2006 and the data file was delivered to the client in September, 2006.
Learn more about the SLAITS surveys here.