Developing Effective Messages about Excessive Alcohol Consumption:
Formative Focus Groups with Adult Drinkers and Abstainers
November 28, 2016
Supporting Statement Part B
Program Official/Project Officer
Jessica Mesnick, MPH
Public Health Advisor, Excessive Alcohol Use Prevention Team
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Phone: 770-488-8063
Email: gla5@cdc.gov
B1. Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods 3
B2. Procedures for the Collection of Information 4
B3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates and Deal with No Response 4
A. Authorizing Legislation
B-1. Federal Register Notice
B-2. Public Comments
C. Screener
D. Informed Consent Form
E. Discussion Guide
F. Activity Worksheet: Profile of an Excessive Drinker
G. Activity Worksheet: Excessive Drinking Problems
H. Stimuli: Alcohol Consumption Definitions
I. Project Announcement - Chesapeake IRB Exemption Determination
The proposed information collection does not involve statistical methods.
All focus group participants will be aged 21-64, will be conversant in English, and will meet additional criteria related to drinking behavior in order to segment participants as Abstainers, Non-Excessive Drinking Young Adults, Non-Excessive Drinking Mid-Life and Excessive Drinkers (see Attachment C).
Participants will be volunteers and so will constitute a non-random sample. However, purposive sampling will be employed so as to gather a pool of participants that varies across race/ethnicity, gender, education and income level.
Participants will be recruited through focus group facility panels in three locations. The project will conduct four focus groups in each of three locations for a total of 12 groups. For each group, eight potential participants will be recruited, anticipating six to participate. The total number of potential participants to be recruited will therefore be up to 96 (i.e., 8 X 12). However, the number of participants who will participate in the focus groups will be up to 72 (i.e., 6 X 12). The numbers of participants with specific characteristics that will need to be recruited to fulfill the segmentation requirements described above are provided in Table B.1.1.
Table B1.1. Focus group participant segmentation criteria
Item |
ABSTAINERS (1 group per location) |
NON-EXCESSIVE
DRINKING (1 group per location) |
NON-EXCESSIVE DRINKING MID-LIFE (1 group per location) |
EXCESSIVE DRINKERS (1 group per location) |
Age |
Any age 21–64 |
21–26 |
35–55 |
Any age 21–64 |
Last 30: # Days |
0 days |
|
|
|
Drink past year? |
No |
|
|
|
Ever drink? |
Yes |
|
|
|
COMPOSITE SCORE |
|
>0 and ≤60 for males >0 and ≤30 for females |
>0 and ≤60 for males >0 and ≤30 for females |
>60 for males >30 for females |
|
|
AND |
AND |
OR |
Last 30: # >4/5 |
|
0 times |
0 times |
1 or more times |
Last 30: Max # |
|
>0 and <5 for males >0 and <4 for females |
>0 and <5 for males >0 and <4 for females |
≥5 for males ≥4 for females |
Participants will be selected so as to meet these requirements to the greatest extent possible. However, recruiting constraints, individual show rate at groups, and/or resource limitations may prevent the formation of groups of all types as well as the desired representation of all types of individuals.
Participants will be recruited with the assistance of recruitment and focus group facilities in three locations. Recruiters in participating facilities will contact their panel via phone or email. Individuals interested in participating will contact the recruiter and will be selected according to the selection criteria described above using the approved Participant Screener (see Attachment C). The recruiter will identify qualified participants and provide information on date, time, location, tokens of appreciation and other related issues. All individuals who are qualified and agree to participate will receive an Informed Consent Form (Attachment D). In addition, informed consent will be obtained from each participant prior to their participation. Recruiting will continue in this manner until a sufficient number of groups have been conducted in each location.
Focus groups will be conducted by a professional moderator with significant experience facilitating groups on sensitive topics (e.g. alcohol use). The moderator will use a discussion guide (Attachment E) to structure interaction and the groups are expected to last approximately 90 minutes. During sessions the moderator will facilitate two activities where participants will be asked to individually fill out worksheets and then discuss as a group (Attachments F & G). They will also be presented with terminology stimuli (Attachment H) to discuss as a group. Project staff will observe sessions via an observation room and will confer with the moderator to determine the need for any further discussions and/or clarification from participants (as time permits) before ending a session. Groups will be audio recorded and a verbatim transcript of each session will be produced that identifies participants by a unique participant ID number.
Professional focus group firms are being contracted to maximize response rates. To minimize the possibility of having too few appropriate participants (thereby forcing group cancellation), two additional participants will be recruited to each group than is needed. In the event that too many participants report, excess participants will receive the honorarium of $75 and will be dismissed. The firms will place reminder phone calls in the weeks leading up to the groups to confirm participation. If a previously identified participant is not able to be reached, the firms will identify alternate participants from the additional individuals who were previously screened.
Methods consist of focus groups and in-group activities. The discussion guides are organized by topic (Attachment E) and will focus on participant’s knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and experiences related to excessive drinking. All questions are semi-structured and open-ended. The protocol will be tested through dry-runs during which the moderator will implement the protocol with mock participants.
The proposed protocol and discussion guide were developed and reviewed extensively by CDC staff, and Fors Marsh Group (FMG) staff identified below. CDC and FMG staff will participate in the analysis of the information, message development and the creation of technical reports.
Robert D. Brewer, MD, MSPH
Captain, U.S. Public Health Service
Alcohol Program Leader
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Phone: 770-488-5920
Email: bbrewer1@cdc.gov
Sarah Evans, PhD
Director, Communication Research
Fors Marsh Group
1010 N. Glebe Road, Suite 510
Arlington, VA 22201
Phone: 571-858-3752
Email: sevans@forsmarshgroup.com
Supporting
Statement B, Page
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Mattson, Kristin |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-23 |