Request for Approval - Focus Group

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0920-1027)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Focus Groups for Exploratory Research and Message Pre-Testing Among Baby Boomers

PURPOSE:

The purpose of the proposed focus groups is to explore knowledge and attitudes about Hepatitis C among Americans born 1945-1965 (or baby boomers), and to pre-test proposed campaign messages for CDC’s Know More Hepatitis campaign. Baby boomers account for approximately 75% of people living with Hepatitis C. Both CDC and the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommend testing people born from 1945-1965 for Hepatitis C. CDC developed the Know More Hepatitis campaign to promote the new recommendation and works with grantees around the country, including the Viral Hepatitis Prevention Coordinators and Hepatitis C Community grantees, to help implement the campaign. Testing identifies people living with Hepatitis C, which can lead them to get into medical care and treatment. New and improved treatments can now cure the disease for many people, and if CDC’s recommendation to test baby boomers is fully implemented, an estimated 120,000 lives can be saved over the next 10-20 years. This effort will help determine whether new proposed campaign materials are understandable and motivate participants to talk to their doctors about getting tested for Hepatitis C. CDC is sponsoring this effort, which is intended to improve the current campaign and ensure high quality of information offered to the public.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

The focus group respondents will be selected based upon the telephone screening for eligibility and because of their potential for experiencing campaign messages and materials in one of the designated six cities: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston and Seattle. These cities represent areas in which CDC and CDC grantees work to educate baby boomers about hepatitis C, as well as cities that have a focus group facility skilled in recruiting baby boomers. The respondents will be male and females born from 1945 to 1965, have no personal or family history of liver disease or hepatitis, have at least a high school education, have never been tested for Hepatitis C and see their primary care doctor at least once every two years. As such, the respondents represent either current or potential customers of the Know More Hepatitis campaign.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[X] Focus Group [ ] Other:

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: ___Cynthia Jorgensen, DrPH_____________________________________________

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X ] No

2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [X ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [X ] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Individuals or Households – Focus Groups	216	2 hours	432 hours
Totals	216		432

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $4500.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [X ] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

CDC has hired Marketing Resources International, a market research firm to conduct the focus groups in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston and Seattle. Eligible respondents will have been screened and selected based upon a telephone screening instrument. Participants will be asked to volunteer for a focus group at a predetermined time and told that the group will be approximately 2 hours in length. The purpose of the group is to talk about Hepatitis C and to provide feedback on the campaign materials. This will allow CDC to change and improve the proposed educational messages. The moderator guide is attached.

Information gained from the focus groups will be in aggregate note format and will not contain any names or other personally identifiable information. The information gained from the focus groups will be qualitative in nature, and not used to generate statistical or generalizable information. The feedback obtained will be synthesized by Marketing Resources International and provided to CDC in the form of a report. The report will describe knowledge and attitudes about hepatitis C, as well as contain program feedback with recommendations about which campaign messages resonate most with the participants. Information is internal and is not intended for release outside of the agency.

Focus Group Locations	Number of Groups
Baltimore
Observation Baltimore 5520 Research Park Drive Baltimore, MD 21228 Local: 410.332.0400	4
Boston
Focus on Boston 30 Rowes Wharf Boston, MA 02110 781.356.7318	4
Chicago
Schlesinger Associates Chicago 625 N Michigan Avenue 26th Floor, Suite 2600 Chicago, IL 60611 (312) 587-8100	4
Denver
INGATHER Research & Sensory 1614 15th St. Suite #100 Denver, CO 80202 303.988.6808	4
Houston
Schlesinger Associates Houston 1455 West Loop South, Suite 500 Houston, TX 77027 (Near the Galleria)	4
Seattle
Consumer Opinion Services Inc. 1420 Fifth Avenue, U.S. Bank Centre Suite #525 Seattle, WA 98101 206.838.7951	4

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[X] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [X ] Yes [ ] No

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