HTMS Review Form

Health Message Testing System Expedited Review Form

1. Title of Study: (Please append screener and questionnaire)

American Academy of Pediatrics Oral Health Toolkit Research and Message Testing

2. Study Population: (Discuss study population and explain how they will be selected/recruited.)

Oral health is an important part of good overall health. Tooth decay (cavities) is the most common chronic condition in children, and the percentage of children and adolescents with untreated tooth decay is about twice as high for those from low-income families (25%) compared with children from high-income households (11%). Untreated decay in childhood can lead to problems eating, speaking, and learning.

A diverse group of low-income, expectant and new mothers with children under the age of 3 will be included in market research via focus groups to identify oral health behaviors, perceptions, and practices; the research will also conduct behavior change message development and testing in order to develop a targeted communications toolkit to promote optimal oral health behaviors.

There will be 8 focus groups of3-5 people each, totaling up to 40 people. Four groups will take place in the Washington, DC Metro area and four will take place in Orlando, FL. All participants will be at least 18 years of age. Each group will have at least 1 Hispanic and 1 Black participant. We will aim to have a mix of education levels in each group. Individuals employed in public health, allied medical professions, advertising, or market research will not be eligible to participate.

After providing informed consent (Appendix A), focus group participants will be asked to review mock magazines with a variety of advertisements (Appendix C) for about 15 minutes. The moderator will then lead a discussion in which participants will be asked about their perceptions of the oral health-related ads: how well they stood out, what thoughts or emotions were evoked, how likely they were to take action, and how the ads could be improved (Appendix B). The data will be reviewed for overall themes from all focus group sessions. Total burden will be approximately 90 minutes per person, equaling a total burden hour time of 60 hours. The firm Salter>Mitchell will recruit participants, request informed consent, and conduct the focus groups.

Respondent characteristics:

Number of subjects: 40

Number of males: 0

Number of females: 40

Age range: 18+

Racial/ethnic composition: Each focus group (3-5 people per group) will have at least 1 Hispanic and 1 black participants to ensure representation of all groups.

Type of group/s: N/A

Geographic location/s:

Orlando, Florida; Washington, D.C. Metro Area

3. Incentives: (If an incentive will be used, state what incentive will be offered and justify proposed incentives to be used in study.)

Incorporating modest incentives to aid in recruitment acknowledges participants’ time and effort, boosts response rates, and may improve the quality of information collected. Incentives are necessary for qualitative information collections such as the proposed materials testing in order to ensure that those who are willing to participate are as representative as possible of the target audience, which in this case includes participants of hard-to-reach racial and ethnic subpopulations, and young men and women who may have responsibilities for child care, etc.

Each focus group participant traveling to attend the 90 minute focus group will be provided with a modest incentive of $75. This incentive is a token of appreciation that encourages participation and acknowledges the participants’ efforts. Failure to provide a basic incentive is likely to bias samples in the direction of well-educated individuals who are generally predisposed to be helpful.¹

4. Study method: (Please check one below)

Central location intercept interview: ___

Telephone interview: __ CATI used: yes or no) __

Individual in-depth interview (cognitive interview):___

Focus group: X

Online interview: __

Other: (describe)

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

The data will be used to create an oral health communications toolkit, available for free download on the American Academy of Pediatrics website. The feedback received from the focus groups will also inform the development of targeted oral health advertisements. The toolkit and advertisements will promote optimal oral health behaviors to the target population.

6. Category of time sensitivity: (Please check one below)

Health emergency: _____

Time-limited congressional/administrative mandate: ____

Press coverage correction: _____

Time-limited audience access: _____

Ineffective existing materials due to historical event/social trends: __x___

Trend tracking: _____

7. Describe nature of time sensitivity: (Please provide 2-3 sentences below.)

Oral health during pregnancy and in the early years of life is a crucial piece of overall health, yet it tends to fall much lower on the long list of concerns for new parents. This project will review existing oral health marketing materials to evaluate their effectiveness (see Attachment C for Testing Materials), and identify new ways of increasing awareness and initiating behavior changes for groups at high risk for oral diseases and complications.

8. Number of burden hours requested: 60

Category of Respondent	Form Name	No. of Respondents	Average Burden per Response (in hours)	Total Burden Hours
Expectant and New Mothers with Children Under the Age of 3	Focus Group	40	90/60	60
Total			1.5	60

9. Are you using questions from the approved question bank? If yes, please list the item number(s) for questions used from the question bank.

Yes: __X___ 1d, 6d, 11d, 15d, 59d

No: _____

*** Items Below to be completed by Office of Associate Director for Communication (OADC)***

1. Number of burden hours remaining in current year’s allocation: _4269______

2. OADC confirmation of time-sensitivity:

Yes: __X___

No: _____

_____________Dawn B. Griffin________________________

Project Officer Signature

References

1. Church, A. Estimating the Effect of Incentives on Mail Survey Response Rates: A Meta‑Analysis. Public Opinion Quarterly. 1993;57, 62‑79.