Recruitment Email for Family/Caregiver Interviews

Attachment X. Recruitment Email for Families/Caregivers Interviews

Dear Colleague,

I am working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and colleagues at Drexel University on a research project to understand the disaster communication needs of families who have children with special health care needs (INSERT: children with autism spectrum disorders) and the capacity of agencies and professionals to meet those needs. A major component of this project involves engaging families (e.g., parents or adolescents) in an interview in which they respond to questions about how they prefer to receive information during emergencies, from whom (e.g., who is their trusted source), and what they most want to know in different specific situations or scenarios. The findings will be used to propose communication frameworks, and to develop content that will be shared with CDC, health departments and emergency management agencies, health care and other professional providers, to improve information sharing during disasters with families who have special health care challenges (INSERT: autism spectrum disorders).

I am emailing to ask your assistance in identifying and recruiting families who would be interested in speaking with a member of our study team. We are particularly interested in speaking with families with children across the age spectrum, with a wide range of health care challenges, from medication dependence for a chronic illness to more severe challenges including reliance on assistive technology and medical equipment. We are also hoping to interview families with limited English proficiency, and families from a cross a wide spectrum of social and economic diversity. We are enclosing a fact sheet that you can share with staff and with your patients to assist with recruiting and explaining the study.

Interviews will be approximately 60 minutes and each family will receive a $25 gift card to Walmart or Target. They will be held at a location convenient for families, such as (NAME OF HOSPITAL or PRACTICE LOCATION or AUTISM INSTITUTE), conferences that parents/caregivers for children with special health care needs (or autism spectrum disorders) plan to attend, or via telephone or Skype. We are also able to conduct interviews in Spanish, when necessary.

If you have a family that you believe would be interested in speaking with us, please share the accompanying fact sheet with them. To coordinate participation in the study, or if you have questions, please contact:

Mr. Tom Hipper, Project Manager tjh87@drexel.edu Tel. XXX-XXX-XXXX

Dr. Esther Chernak dec48@drexel.edu Tel. 267-359-6038

Thank you very much for your support. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

(INSERT: Esther Chernak, Renee Turchi; Jennifer Plumb)