App_N1. Announcement of study extension to WIC State agencies

Appendix N1

Announcement of Study Extension to WIC State Agencies

OMB Approval No.: 0584-0580

Approval Expires: XX/XX/20XX

Dear [insert name]:

Thank you for your ongoing participation in the Feeding My Baby Study, also known as the WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2. With assistance from State and local agencies and the 80 WIC study sites, 4,367 infants were enrolled in the study during 2013, and many of them are still participating!

We are pleased to announce that the study is being extended again. Activities involving your State will not ramp up until early 2022, but we wanted to proactively reach out and let your organization know what the plans for the study extension are.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) continues to contract with Westat and its partners to follow the children enrolled in the study until they turn 9 years old. Around the time of the child’s ninth birthday, we will conduct one phone interview with the child’s caregiver, and we will also collect a weight and height measurement on the child. These activities are slated to occur between April 2022 and August 2023. This extension is an opportunity to study the impact of WIC participation beyond the period of eligibility and to better understand how WIC participation may impact the health and nutrition trajectories of school-aged children who previously received program benefits.

Additionally, we will also gather WIC administrative data on study participants who were unavailable for follow-up during the early years of the study (2013 through 2019). This activity will allow FNS to explore if these participants differ from those who continued in the study, and it will allow FNS to determine if these study participants left WIC at the same rate as their counterparts who remained in the study.

For this extension, State and local agencies and WIC sites will be asked to provide assistance after the study obtains OMB approval, expected in early 2022. In the interim, Westat has been approved to regularly contact the study participants’ parents/caregivers about the extension of the study and encourage their ongoing participation. Westat’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) has reviewed and approved the study extension. For States or local agencies that require IRB approval, Westat will submit an amendment for the study extension to the IRB that has previously approved the study.

During this extension period of 2022 - 2023, the WIC State Agencies and sites in the study will be asked to:

• Provide available administrative data on the approximately 1,093 study participants who left the study before the study child’s fifth birthday. Pending OMB approval, Westat is pleased to offer a grant of $1,000 per State agency, to cover the administrative costs associated with this administrative data collection.

• Facilitate weight and height measurements for children in the study around the time of ninth birthday. Westat will ask parents/caregivers to go to a WIC site or healthcare provider to obtain the measurements and will provide them with the measurement card to take to WIC or the healthcare provider to complete and then mail back to Westat..

• Occasionally assist with contacting parents/caregivers of children in the study when they cannot be located through other means. Many of the families with children enrolled in the study may still be participating in WIC for other family members.

As was approved in previous study extensions, the collection of height and weight measurements for study participants who are no longer on WIC is an authorized use of Nutrition Services and Administration funds under Federal regulations at 7 CFR 246.26(k), which require State and local agencies to cooperate in studies and evaluations conducted by or on behalf of FNS. The attached letter from Sarah Widor, Director, Supplemental Food Programs Division at FNS, confirms that study activities are an allowable WIC cost. However, with State agency agreement, Westat will offer small grants to the 80 study sites for their assistance in weighing and measuring the children who are no longer on WIC.

Westat will host a Feeding My Baby Study webinar to provide study updates, including findings from a recent study report, and describe future data collection activities planned for the study extension period. We are pleased to invite you to join the webinar on:

TIME AND DATE

To participate:

• Ten minutes prior to the webinar, go to [Webinar URL].

• [Webinar instructions]

If you have any technical questions, please contact _____ and provide the name of the webinar—Feeding My Baby Webinar—and date of TIME AND DATE.

The Study Contact(s) at each of the WIC sites will also receive an announcement regarding the extension of the study with an invitation to the webinar.

Following the webinar, we will schedule a short phone call with you to discuss details about the activities associated with the study extension and answer your questions regarding the study. We will also request your assistance in scheduling a conference call to discuss the study extension with the WIC sites in your State. A member of the study team will contact you to schedule a convenient time for a call. In the meantime, please feel free to contact Bibi Gollapudi at BibiGollapudi@Westat.com or by phone at 240-314-7558 if you have questions or concerns about the study or if there has been a change in your State Agency point-of-contact for the study.

We appreciate your ongoing support for the Feeding My Baby Study and look forward to talking to you about the extension of the study.

Sincerely,

Janice Machado

Project Director, Westat

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food & Nutrition Service
Braddock Metro Center II
1320 Braddock Place
Alexandria, VA  22314

Dear WIC State Agency Director:

Thank you for your participation in the WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2, called “Feeding My Baby - A National WIC Study.” We greatly appreciate the cooperation and assistance for this study from you, your staff and the local WIC sites. As explained in a recent communication from the study contractor, Westat, the Food and Nutrition Service is extending the study for an additional year. This extension to follow the children in the study at age nine years is an opportunity to examine the impact of WIC participation beyond the period of eligibility.

A primary purpose of the study is to evaluate how WIC affects feeding practices and childhood obesity. To accomplish study objectives, height and weight measurements of the children have been collected throughout the study period. During the additional year, Westat will ask parents/caregivers to go to a WIC site or healthcare provider to obtain the measurements near the time of the child’s ninth birthday. Westat will provide them with a study measurement card to take to WIC or a healthcare provider and mail back to Westat. Occasionally, Westat may ask for assistance from WIC sites or State agencies to contact parents/caregivers of children in the study when they cannot be located by other means.

The collection of height and weight measurements for study participants who are no longer participating in WIC and assistance with contacting parents/caregivers of children enrolled in the study are authorized uses of Nutrition Services and Administration (NSA) funds under Federal regulations. This is consistent with Federal WIC regulations at 7 CFR 246.26(k), which require State and local agencies to cooperate in studies and evaluations conducted by or on behalf of FNS.

WIC State Agency Director

Page 2

In addition, the study will also examine the WIC participation patterns of participants who left study before the study child’s fifth birthday from the administrative records provided by your agency to examine if the participants who left the study are systematically different from the participants who continue with the study.

While NSA funds may be used for these study activities, Westat will offer small grants to sites for collecting the measurements if State Agencies agree to make grants available, and to the State Agencies for the administrative data.

Thank you for your continued support of this important study.

Sincerely,

Sarah Widor

Director

Supplemental Food Programs Division