HMTS Expedited Review Form

Health Message Testing System Expedited Review Form
1. Title of Study: (Please append screener and questionnaire)

ATSDR Task Order 15-4: Division of Community Health Investigations Storyboard Testing Focus Groups
for “No Trespassing Means No Trespassing” Campaign
2. Study Population: (Discuss study population and explain how they will be selected/recruited.)

Focus groups, two different populations: Tweens (children ages 10-13), Parents of tweens. Both
populations will be recruited by a Boston, MA- area recruitment firm. A standard screener will be used to
ensure that participants represent a range of genders, race/ethnicities, and income levels.
Respondent characteristics:
Number of subject: 24 (16 tweens, 8 parents of tweens)
Number of males:

12

Age range: tweens 10-13 & parents 18yrs and older Number of females: 12
Racial/ethnic composition: Mixed
Special group status: (e.g., risk group, health care providers)
Type of group(s): Consumers
Geographic location(s): Participants will participate in-person in Holyoke, MA.

3. Incentives: (State what incentive will be offered and justify proposed incentives to be used in study.)

Tweens and parents will each be offered a $45 cash gift in appreciation of their participation. This amount
has also been shown to be the minimum required incentive to offset the challenges for participating in a
focus group outside of their regular school hours in the western Massachusetts area. The focus group for
parents will require participants to travel and participate outside of regular work hours in the western
Massachusetts and arrange for childcare.

4. Study method: (Please check one below)
Central location intercept interview:
Online Interview:
Telephone interview:
Other (describe):

Focus group:
Individual in-depth interview (cognitive interview):

(CATI used: yes or no):

5. Purpose of the overall communication effort into which this health message(s) will fit:
(Please provide 2-3 sentences below.)

To educate kids about the consequences of playing or hanging out in abandoned buildings or facilities, and
to help keep them away from these areas, ATSDR is developing a new media campaign including
messages and PSAs. ATSDR contracted with a health communication firm, Communicate Health, to
evaluate these messages and PSAs for effectiveness through focus groups with representatives of 2 target
audiences: Tween (children ages 10-13) & Parents of Tweens. See Attachment 1: Background Information
6. Category of time sensitivity: (Please check one below)
Health emergency:
Time-limited audience access:
Press coverage correction:
Time-limited congressional/administrative mandate:
Trend Tracking
Ineffective existing materials due to historical event/social trends:
7. Describe nature of time sensitivity: (Please provide 2-3 sentences below.)
Testing needs to be conducted quickly in order for there to be enough time within the contract period of
performance to evaluate focus group findings, refine messages, and develop a set of final
recommendations. We anticipate recruitment of tweens in particular may take additional time, and would
like to begin as soon as possible in order to stay on target with project deadlines.

8. Number of burden hours requested: 48 hours

BURDEN HOURS
No. of
Participation
Respondents Time

Category of Respondent

Burden

See Attachment 9: Burden Hours

Totals
9. Are you using questions from the approved question bank?

Yes

If yes, please list the item number(s) for questions used from the question bank separated by a comma.
(e.g., 1a, 3c, 130d)
1a, 3a, 4a, 5a, 8a, 13a, 14a, 1b, 2b, 54a, 77d, 16c, 17c, 69d, 52a, 14c, 11f, 1d, 3d, 6d, 24d, 47e, 30d, 22d,
20d, 17d, 94d, 43e, 7d, 11d, 95d, 72d, 74d, 80d, 81d, 26d,
*** Items below to be completed by Office of Associate Director for Communication (OADC)***
1. Number of burden hours remaining in current year's allocation: 2330
2. OADC confirmation of time-sensitivity:
Yes:
No:

Barbara Morrison
Project Officer
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