Informed Consent for In-depth Interview

Attachment 13b: In-Depth Interview Informed Consent

Thank you for agreeing to speak with me today. ICF International, on behalf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is conducting an evaluation to explore programs that have supported and helped to build the capacity of the CDC’s National Comprehensive Cancer Control (NCCCP) and State-Based Tobacco Control Programs via training and technical assistance (TTA). Specifically, CDC and ICF International are collaborating on this project to conduct case studies of organizations funded to support these programs and that were funded under two different cooperative agreements, the Consortium of National Networks to Impact Populations Experiencing Tobacco-Related and Cancer Health Disparities (DP13-1314) (hereafter referred to as DP13-1314) and the National Support to Enhance Implementation of Comprehensive Cancer Control Activities (DP13-1315) (hereafter referred to as DP13-1315). The purpose of this project is to: 1) gain a deeper understanding of the TTA provided across both cooperative agreements; 2) identify the critical factors that affected implementation of TTA; and 3) learn about which TTA activities are most effective in supporting CDC’s program grantees.

We are conducting this interview with you because you have been identified as a person who received TTA from one of the organizations funded by CDC and can describe details about the type, quantity, and quality of TTA received. Your opinions and thoughts are extremely valuable to our project, and there are no right or wrong answers. This interview is not meant to evaluate you; rather, it is meant to gain insights from you about how your program operates and is managed.

Our discussion will take approximately 30 minutes of your time.

Information obtained through this interview will be treated in a secure manner and will not be disclosed. In addition, only the ICF project team will have access to data that can link your answers to you. There are no known risks to those who participate. The benefit of participating in this study is that your organization’s experiences will help inform CDC’s future efforts to build capacity among their funded programs. We will NOT link your name or your role/title to specific responses in any reports developed from this study, and your identity and your answers to any questions that I ask you during this interview will be kept private. Your responses will be reported in aggregate. We will use information we learn from this interview to supplement aggregate findings across cases, and information will be synthesized and from this study will be shared with project team members (ICF and CDC staff) in a final report which will include the examination of the data collected across programs, and this information will be reported in aggregate so that any information you share cannot be linked to you, your organizations, or to specific TTA provider organizations.

Your participation is completely voluntary. You may choose not to answer some of the questions or you may choose not to participate without penalty. You can choose to discontinue the interview at any time, for any reason. If you choose to stop participating in the interview, I will ask you whether you wish to withdraw all of your responses or allow the responses I have already collected to be used. If you choose to withdraw all of your responses, I will immediately discard all of your responses, and all ICF project team members have signed a non-disclosure agreement ensuring that they will not discuss any data collected outside of the project team.

As the interviewer, with your permission, I will audio record our conversation; an additional member of the ICF International project team will take notes during our discussion. We will use the information we learn from this interview to supplement our final report.

If you have questions about your rights as a participant, you may contact Sarah O’Dell, the project manager, by phone at 404-321-3211 or email at Sarah.Odell@icfi.com.

Before we begin the discussion, I would like to get verbal consent to proceed. Do you agree to participate in this interview?

Yes  Thank-you. I am confirming you are willing to answer questions during this discussion and will note your verbal consent. We also would like to record the conversation to make sure we don’t miss anything.

No  Thank participant for his or her time and end conversation.

Do I have your permission to turn on the audio recorder?

Yes  Thank-you. Turn on recorder.

No  Thank-you. I will refrain from recording the session.

Do you have any questions for me before we begin?

Pause for participant response(s). Answer any questions the respondent has. Proceed to conducting the interview using the Interview Guide