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The Americans' Changing Lives (ACL) survey series is an ongoing, nationally representative, longitudinal study focusing especially on differences between Black and White Americans in middle and late life. These data constitute the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth waves in a panel survey covering a wide range of sociological, psychological, mental, and physical health items. Wave I of the study began in 1986 with a nation face-to-face survey of 3,617 adults ages 25 and up, with Black Americans and people aged 60 and over over-sampled at twice the rate of the others. Wave II constitutes face-to-face re-interviews in 1989 of those still alive. Survivors have been re-interviewed by telephone, and when necessary face-to-face, in 1994 (Wave III), 2001/02 (Wave IV), 2011 (Wave V), and 2019/21 (Wave VI).

Please note that for Wave VI, the majority of data collection occurred in 2019, with only a small subset (n=39) of participants surveyed in 2021.

ACL was designed and sought to investigate the following: (1) The ways in which a wide range of activities and social relationships that people engage in are broadly "productive," (2) how individuals adapt to acute life events and chronic stresses that threaten the maintenance of health, effective functioning, and productive activity, and (3) sociocultural variations in the nature, meaning, determinants, and consequences of productive activity and relationships. Among the topics covered are interpersonal relationships (spouse/partner, children, parents, friends), sources and levels of satisfaction, social interactions and leisure activities, traumatic life events (physical assault, serious illness, divorce, death of a loved one, financial or legal problems), perceptions of retirement, health behaviors (smoking, alcohol consumption, overweight, rest), and utilization of health care services (doctor visits, hospitalization, nursing home institutionalization, bed days). Also included are measures of physical health, psychological well-being, and indices referring to cognitive functioning.

Demographic information provided for individuals includes household composition, number of children and grandchildren, employment status, occupation and work history, income, family financial situation, religious beliefs and practices, ethnicity, race, education, sex, and region of residence.

This randomized controlled trial evaluated a culturally appropriate intervention to improve the recognition and treatment of depression among Asian and Latino American primary care patients at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), using a culturally focused psychiatric (CFP) consultation with a team of mental health providers who were bilingual/bicultural, trained in culturally competent techniques, and familiar with the cultures and languages of the patients served. Targeted minority patients who screened positive for clinical depression were eligible to participate in the trial. The intervention patients were offered the CFP consultation at baseline and, if eligible, received the CFP patient toolkit as part of their treatment. The toolkit provided psychoeducation and tools for managing depression as well as information on community resources. The usual care patients were offered standard referrals to MGH mental health resources.

Questionnaires were administered to the patients at screening, baseline, two-week follow-up, and six month follow-up. The screening questionnaires included the two-item Public Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2) and demographic questions. Assessment measures administered to the intervention patients at baseline included the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self Rated Scale (QIDS-SR 16), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), Schwartz Outcome Scale (SOS-10), and a demographic questionnaire and resource utilization questionnaire. At six month follow-up, the intervention arm was administered a resource utilization questionnaire, patient satisfaction questionnaire (Treatment Satisfaction Scale), qualitative interview, and the QIDS-SR 16 and SOS-10. The SOS-10 was also administered to the intervention patients at two-week follow-up. In the usual care arm, the QIDS-SR 16 and resource utilization questionnaire was administered at baseline and six months, the qualitative interview at six months, and the demographic questionnaire at baseline or six-months. There was no two-week assessment for the usual care patients. Electronic medical record review was used for both arms at baseline and six months, as needed. In addition, qualitative interviews were conducted with project and practice staff at the end of the study.

The data file includes the responses to the questionnaires and variables describing the CFP consultation assessment (DSM-IV Axis I, II, III, IV, and V diagnoses), treatment recommendations made to the patients' primary care physicians (PCPs) after the CFP consultation, and study staff contacts with the patients' PCPs and mental health providers. ICPSR did not receive the data from the qualitative interviews or electronic medical record reviews.

The NCS-2 was a re-interview of 5,001 individuals who participated in the Baseline (NCS-1). The study was conducted a decade after the initial baseline survey. The aim was to collect information about changes in mental disorders, substance use disorders, and the predictors and consequences of these changes over the ten years between the two surveys. The collection contains three major sections: the main survey, demographic data, and diagnostic data.

In the main survey, respondents were asked about general physical and mental health. Questions focused on a variety of health issues, including limitations caused by respondents' health issues, substance use, childhood health, life-threatening illnesses, chronic conditions, medications taken in the past 12 months, level of functioning and symptoms experienced in the past 30 days, and any services used by the respondents since the (NCS-1). Additional questions focused on mental disorders including depression, bipolar disorder, specific and social phobias, generalized anxiety, intermittent explosive disorder, suicidality, post-traumatic stress disorder, neurasthenia, pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and separation anxiety. Respondents were also asked about their lives in general, with topics including employment, finances, marriage, children, their social lives, and stressful life events experienced in the past 12 months. Additionally, two personality assessments were included consisting of respondents' opinions on whether various true/false statements accurately described their personalities. Another focus of the main survey dealt with substance use and abuse, nonmedical use of prescription drugs, and polysubstance use. Interview questions in the NCS-2 Main Survey were customized to each respondent based on previous responses in the Baseline (NCS-1).

The middle section contains demographic and other background information including age, education, employment, household composition, household income, marital status, and region.

The last section of the collection focused on whether respondents met diagnostic criteria for psychological disorders asked about in the main survey.

The NCS-2 was a re-interview of 5,001 individuals who participated in the Baseline (NCS-1). The study was conducted a decade after the initial baseline survey. The aim was to collect information about changes in mental disorders, substance use disorders, and the predictors and consequences of these changes over the ten years between the two surveys. The collection contains four major sections: the main survey, demographic data, diagnostic data, and state, county, and tract FIPS data.

In the main survey, respondents were asked about general physical and mental health. Questions focused on a variety of health issues, including limitations caused by respondents' health issues, substance use, childhood health, life-threatening illnesses, chronic conditions, medications taken in the past 12 months, level of functioning and symptoms experienced in the past 30 days, and any services used by the respondents since the (NCS-1). Additional questions focused on mental disorders including depression, bipolar disorder, specific and social phobias, generalized anxiety, intermittent explosive disorder, suicidality, post-traumatic stress disorder, neurasthenia, pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and separation anxiety. Respondents were also asked about their lives in general, with topics including employment, finances, marriage, children, their social lives, and stressful life events experienced in the past 12 months. Additionally, two personality assessments were included consisting of respondents' opinions on whether various true/false statements accurately described their personalities. Another focus of the main survey dealt with substance use and abuse, nonmedical use of prescription drugs, and polysubstance use. Interview questions in the NCS-2 Main Survey were customized to each respondent based on previous responses in the Baseline (NCS-1).

The second part contains demographic and other background information including age, education, employment, household composition, household income, marital status, and region.

The third part focuses on whether respondents met diagnostic criteria for psychological disorders asked about in the main survey.

The fourth part contains respondents' state, county, and tract FIPS data.

The National Study of Physician Organizations and the Management of Chronic Illness (NSPO) was designed to improve understanding of evidence-based care management processes (CMPs) as they relate to physician organizations (POs), that is, independent practice associations (IPAs) and medical groups. Since the first NSPO survey of physician organizations in 2000-2001 (NSPO1, archived as ICPSR 4455), considerable investments have been made by a number of different sources, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the California Healthcare Foundation, and The Commonwealth Fund, to bring about improved care for the chronically ill. This survey, the second NSPO survey of IPAs and medical groups (NSPO2), examined the extent to which the investments in quality improvement were translated into action. NSPO2 assessed the status of CMPs and preventive services use as well as their key drivers in 2006-2007 and the extent to which these factors have changed over time. As in the first NSPO survey, NSPO2 focused on the treatment of four chronic diseases: asthma, congestive heart failure (CHF), depression, and diabetes. Topics covered by the survey include practice type, size, age, ownership, and number of locations; clinical information systems; care management and clinical practice; activities of health insurance plans in chronic illness care; performance incentives; preventative care and health promotion; and organizational culture.

This collection has two data files. The first file contains the NSPO2 survey data, while the second contains a crosswalk between the NSPO1 and NSPO2 case identification numbers which can be used to link the data of the POs that responded to both surveys. Altogether, 369 of the 1,104 POs that responded to NSPO1 also responded to NSPO2.

Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Study of Small and Medium-sized Physician Practices (NSSMPP) was designed to provide information about physician practices with 1-19 physicians. The survey focused on the use of information technology and care management processes for four major chronic illnesses: asthma, congestive heart failure, depression, and diabetes. Other topics covered by the survey include practice type, size, ownership and the breakdown of patients by race and Hispanic origin; clinical preventative services and health promotion; health insurance plan activities in preventative care and care for patients with chronic illness; performance reporting and incentives; revenue sources and compensation methods; and organizational culture.

NSSMPP was also designed to assist the RWJF-funded Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) project by providing baseline data about small and medium sized practices in the AF4Q sites. AF4Q was a national program that aimed to lift the quality of health care in 16 targeted communities, reduce racial and ethnic disparities in those communities and provide models for national reform.

NSSMPP built on two previous studies -- the National Study of Physician Organizations and the Management of Chronic Illness (NSPO), 2000-2001 (ICPSR 4455) and the National Study of Physician Organizations and the Management of Chronic Illness II (NSPO2), 2006-2007 (ICPSR 29801) -- which collected information about medical groups and independent practice associations (IPAs) with 20 or more physicians.