3 Messaging Moderator’s Guide

Attachment 12

STUDENT Focus Group Moderator's Guide - Group Type #1, Prescription Drug Abuse Messaging

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Choose Your Path Video Campaign

Student Discussion Guide - Group Type 1; Prescription Drug Abuse Messaging

Note: Both the Student and Teacher Discussion Guides will be modified once findings from the web survey are analyzed; the purpose of the focus groups is to delve deeper into the learning from the web survey in terms of student and teacher attitudes towards prescriptions drug misuse and reactions to the videos.

This guide covers discussions for both focus group types - PEERx Video Evaluation, and Messaging focus groups.

All Groups - Warm-up

Thanks for agreeing to be part of our focus group discussion today. I’d like to introduce myself. I’m Sharon Ray and I moderate focus groups all over the country. I talk to all sorts of people on all sorts of topics, anything ranging from chewing gum to fast food restaurants to what kinds of ads you liked on the Super Bowl.

Today we are going to be talking about some on-line videos you all have viewed: The Choose Your Path videos. I want to hear your reactions to the videos but I’d first like to talk a bit about how you think about prescriptions drugs, their use and possible misuse here at school and after school.

Every time I do a focus group, I record it because I have to write a summary of what each group said. I’m doing several of these groups across the country and there’s no way I can remember what everyone said. So, this group is being recorded, for my purposes only. Everything we talk about today will remain confidential and you’ll notice we are using first names only. (Mention viewers in adjacent room, watching live via CCTV and recording for archival purposes.)

Does anyone have any questions for me before we begin?

Let’s go around the table. Please tell us your first name, your year in school, if you have brothers or sisters and their ages and: if you had a day completely free of school, homework, practice or chores, how you would spend it?

Discussion for Group Type 1: Prescription Drug Messaging

I. General discussion on messaging

Write down the first word or phrase that comes to mind when I say “drugs.”

Now write down the first word or phrase that comes to mind when I say

“prescription drugs.”

Write on easel the responses and probe specific associations

Now I’d like to talk about what’s going on in your school with prescription drug misuse

First, let’s define misuse. How do you define prescription drug misuse?

Is there misuse among your peers? In what situations? How prevalent is misuse?

Why do you think there is misuse?

Is misuse harmful? How? What are the harmful effects?

In your school, how acceptable is misuse? What’s the attitude towards misuse? Is there approval or disapproval?

Why is that?

If you had to generalize, what kind of high schooler would you say misuses prescription drugs?

Has anyone ever talked to you about prescription drug misuse?

Who?

What did they say?

Are there any circumstances under which it’s ok to misuse prescription drugs? Describe

Are there acceptable circumstances to take, for example, someone else’s Adderall or Ritalin? Describe

Why do you feel that way?

Is it “safer” to misuse prescription drugs than it is to use illegal drugs?

II. Improving the Messaging

Expose respondents to terms and phrases (TBD) and determine effectiveness in messaging: what terms/messages break through the clutter?

Terms:

Which term is most appropriate to use moving forward: prescription drug misuse, abuse or non-medical use?

Group type II: PEERx Video Evaluation & Reactions to Video

I. General discussion on messaging

Write down the first word or phrase that comes to mind when I say “drugs.”

Now write down the first word or phrase that comes to mind when I say

“prescription drugs.”

Write on easel the responses and probe specific associations

Now I’d like to talk about what’s going on in your school with prescription drug misuse

First, let’s define misuse. How do you define prescription drug misuse?

Is there misuse among your peers? In what situations? How prevalent is misuse?

Why do you think there is misuse?

Is misuse harmful? How? What are the harmful effects?

In your school, how acceptable is misuse? What’s the attitude towards misuse? Is there approval or disapproval?

Why is that?

If you had to generalize, what kind of high schooler would you say misuses prescription drugs?

Has anyone ever talked to you about prescription drug misuse?

Who?

What did they say?

Are there any circumstances under which it’s ok to misuse prescription drugs? Describe

Are there acceptable circumstances to take, for example, someone else’s Adderall or Ritalin? Describe

Why do you feel that way?

Is it “safer” to misuse prescription drugs than it is to use illegal drugs?

II. Video Evaluation / Reactions to Video

Let’s watch one of the videos (videos will be rotated throughout the focus groups) and then talk about it.

After viewing and prior to discussion, ask students to rate this video on a 1-5 scale for how effective it is.

1= this video was kind of silly

2= this video was ok but had no effect on me

3= this video didn’t effect me one way or another; I didn’t relate to it

4= this video did affect me; I could relate to it

5= this video definitely affected me; it changed my thinking about misusing prescription drugs

Discuss:

What was the video’s main point?

What, if anything, did you especially like?

What, if anything, did you especially dislike?

Was there anything confusing or difficult to understand in the video?

What about the scenario? How believable/ real/relatable was that? Why?

What about the characters? How believable/real//relatable were they?

What are your reactions to the style of the video: camera angles, etc.

Did you learn anything new? What?

Have you seen this video before? How many times? Have your friends seen it? Have you discussed it with them? Why/not?

Discuss ratings and reasons for ratings

For those of you who were affected by the video, tell me how your thinking has changed re: prescription drugs

How do you perceive prescription drugs misuse?

After seeing this video, would you seek out more information on prescription drugs and their effects? Where?

Now that you’ve seen the video, how likely are you to talk about it or share the link with your friends or family?

About how often could you view this video before it got “old?”

III. Improving the Video

If you were in charge of improving this video, what would you change?

What would really get kids’ attention and cause them to share this video?

Let’s make a list of other risky situations that might make sense to feature

And let’s list other social situations that might make sense to feature

Do you think these videos should be shown in school? Why/not?

What is the one main message you would get across to high schoolers if you were in charge of this video campaign?

Expose respondents to terms and phrases (TBD) and determine effectiveness in messaging: what terms/messages break through the clutter?

Terms:

Which term is most appropriate to use moving forward: prescription drug misuse, abuse or non-medical use?