Instrument 1: Request for LIA Contact Information from MIECHV Leads

OMB Control #: 0970-XXXX

Expiration Date: XX/XX/XXXX

INSTRUMENT 1: REQUEST FOR LIA CONTACT INFORMATION FROM MIECHV LEADS

Initial Email to MIECHV Leads

Dear [MIECHV Lead],

I’m writing to introduce you to the Family Level Assessment and State of Home Visiting (FLASH-V) project. The FLASH-V project is being conducted by James Bell Associates in partnership with MDRC for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), in collaboration with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Through the project, we hope to learn more about the processes Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) funded home visiting programs use to recruit and enroll families. We recently hosted the [insert title of informational webinar] to introduce MIECHV Leads to the study. We also shared how we hope to engage MIECHV home visiting programs to this study. If you were unable to participate in the webinar, a recording of the webinar can be found here [insert link].

Specifically, we hope to understand home visiting programs’ recruitment and enrollment processes used to fill open slots, challenges they may have experienced, and ways programs may have successfully overcome these challenges. We plan to reach out to MIECHV-funded programs to invite them to participate in a national survey so that we may gather data about the strategies they use to recruit and enroll families. In addition, a subset of approximately 40 programs will be invited to participate in semi-structured telephone interviews to gather more in depth information on recruitment strategies. Project findings may be used to support future technical assistance to programs, home visiting’s continuous quality improvement (CQI) work, and future evaluation efforts. A brief description of the project is attached to this email for more information. The questions and answers below also provide more details about the project.

Q: What is the purpose of the study?

A: The research questions we hope to answer are:

• What are current approaches used by MIECHV funded programs to identifying, reaching, and recruiting potential eligible families? What opportunities exist to increase the number of identified potential eligible families?

• What is the current landscape for programs in terms of capacity? What accomplishments and challenges have programs experienced in maintaining caseloads, including those experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic?

• What types of community organizations currently refer families to home visiting? How do programs communicate and work with community referral partners? How can MIECHV funded programs work with community referral partners to strengthen the flow of incoming referrals and improve rates of successful enrollment?

Q: Is participation required?

A: No. All programs receiving state, territory, or Tribal MIECHV funding are invited to participate, but participation is voluntary. Responses are kept private, there is no penalty for not participating, and the federal government will not know whether or not your program and staff choose to participate.

Q: Why is participation important?

A: This is a critical opportunity to build knowledge about ways home visiting programs may strengthen future outreach strategies and identify potential solutions to challenges in reaching enrollment capacity. The results may also be used to support future technical assistance to programs, home visiting’s continuous quality improvement (CQI) work, and future evaluation efforts. Each program’s participation is important – their perspectives cannot be replaced and hearing from as many programs as possible will help ensure that the results are relevant.

Q: What does participation involve?

A: A member of each program will be invited to participate in a web-based survey that will take approximately 30 minutes each to complete. A subset of approximately 40 programs who completed a survey will be invited to participate in one telephone interview lasting about 45 minutes and to share copies of recruitment materials and referral forms.

Q: What do we ask participants?

A: Participants will be asked questions related to caseload capacity, including COVID-19 impacts on capacity, factors that influence recruitment and enrollment, strategies for identifying and enrolling families, and working with community referral partners.

Q: Will participant responses be kept private?

A: Yes. All data are kept private and answers will not be shared with other agencies. Only the project team will have access to this information. Data from each program will be combined with other programs’ data and summarized in a published final report and research briefs.

Q: As a MIECHV Lead, how can I help?

A: All programs that receive state, territory, or tribal MIECHV funding are eligible to participate in the FLASH-V project. We would greatly value your help identifying all your MIECHV funded programs. Your HRSA Project Officer mentioned that you are the best person from whom to request this information.

We are requesting that you, or another member from your team, email the FLASH-V study team with the contact information of someone at each program that receives state, territory, or tribal MIECHV funding so that we may reach out to them directly about participating in the study. You may use the table below, adding more lines if necessary, or send the information in the attached Word document if that is more convenient for you. While we would greatly value the participation of all programs, if there is a program we should not contact, please check the box in the last column of the table below.

Program name	Point of contact at program	Point of contact email address	Check if this program should not be contacted
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Or, if you would prefer to have a brief phone call to learn more about the study or to provide program contact information by phone, please contact me using the contact information provided below.

Your assistance and participation in this project are completely voluntary and declining to share this information will not impact your MIECHV award or standing with HRSA or ACF. We greatly appreciate your consideration. We would appreciate your response with the requested information by xx/xx/xx (within 1 week).

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance with this project,

[Team member name and contact information]

Follow-up Email to MIECHV Leads [Option 1]

[study team to reply to original message so as not to restate information about our project and put request front and center] 

 

Dear [MIECHV Lead], 

I’m writing to follow-up on an email I sent you below regarding the FLASH-V project. We would like to invite your MIECHV funded home visiting programs to participate in the FLASH-V project. We would truly appreciate if you, or another member from your team, could take a few minutes to share the contact information of someone at each MIECHV-funded program so that we may reach out to them directly about participating in the study. You may use the table below, adding more lines if necessary, or send the information in the attached Word document if that is more convenient for you.

Program name	Point of contact at program	Point of contact email address	Check if this program should not be contacted
			
			
			
			
			
			
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If you have any questions or would prefer to provide the information by phone, would you be available for a 15-minute phone call during any of the times listed below? 

 

[Insert a minimum of four time slots within the next week] 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. You can also find additional information about our project in the project description that is attached.

Thank you in advance for your time and assistance with this project, 

[Team member name and contact information] 

Follow-up Email to MIECHV Leads [Option 2]

[study team to reply to email chain so as not to restate information about our project and put request front and center] 

 

Dear [MIECHV Lead], 

I wanted to reach out to you again regarding the FLASH-V project. We know your time is valuable and we’re hoping that you can take a few short minutes to provide us with some information, by email or by phone, about your MIECHV-funded programs. If you prefer to provide the information by phone, would you be available for a 15-minute phone call during any of the times listed below? 

 

[Insert a minimum of four time slots within the next week] 

 

Also, please let us know if there is another member of your team we should contact.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have. 

 

Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you, 

 

[Team member name and contact information] 

This collection of information is voluntary and will be used to understand the challenges that programs may face in reaching caseload capacity and promising strategies they use to address these challenges. Information collected will be kept private. Public reporting burden for the described collection of information is estimated to average 15 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB number and expiration date for this collection are OMB #: 0970-XXXX, Exp: XX/XX/XXXX. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Susan Zaid; szaid@jbassoc.com.