App_N2 Announcement of study extension to WIC sites

Appendix N2

Announcement of Study Extension to WIC State Sites

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. 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 in it. We are pleased to announce that the study is being extended again. The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has continued to contract with Westat and its partners to follow the infants enrolled in the study in their ninth year, with one additional phone interview, and weight and height measurements collected around the time of the child’s ninth birthday. 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, the study will also examine WIC administrative data to gather

information on former WIC ITPFS-2 participants who left the study during the first five

years of the study. This activity will allow FNS to explore if participants who left the study were

systematically different than that 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. Westat will communicate about the extension of the study with the parents/caregivers of the children, obtain their consent to continue on the study, and stay in contact with them to 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, the sites in the study will be asked to:

• Conduct weight and height measurements for children in the study around the time of ninth birthday, and record the measurements on a Feeding My Baby Study Measurement Card. 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.

As we explained when the study was extended previously, 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 ______, Director, Supplemental Food Programs Division at FNS, confirms that study activities are an allowable WIC cost.

• 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.

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.

If there are changes in your WIC site’s Study Contact for the Feeding My Baby Study, please notify Bibi Gollapudi at BibiGollapudi@Westat.com or by phone at 240-314-7558 of the appropriate individual(s) to contact regarding 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

Attachment: Letter from Director, Supplemental Food Programs Division

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is collecting this information to investigate (1) the dietary practices and the health and nutritional status of the WIC ITFPS-2 children during the ninth year of life; (2) if participants who left the study were systematically different than those who continued in the study and if these study participants left WIC at the same rate as their counterparts who remained in the study. This is a voluntary collection and FNS will use the information to inform WIC service delivery. The collection does request personally identifiable information under the Privacy Act of 1974. Responses will be kept private to the extent provided by law and FNS regulations. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-0580. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 0.0835 hours (5 minutes) per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Policy Support, 1320 Braddock Place, 5th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22314. ATTN: PRA (0584-0580). Do not return the completed form to this address.