Recruitment

NIST HURRICANE MARIA STUDY,

HURRICANE MARIA RECOVERY OF CRITICAL SOCIAL FUNCTIONS PROJECT:

HOSPITAL RECOVERY FOLLOWING HURRICANE MARIA

HOSPITAL RECOVERY INTERVIEW WAVE 1

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HOSPITAL COMMUNICATION AND CONSENT SCRIPTS

1. Reply to Individuals Who Indicated Willingness to Participate in Interview During Survey

Thank you for expressing interest in participating in an interview about your institution’s impacts and recovery from Hurricane Maria. We are expecting to conduct interviews this Summer and will reach out to you by email or phone during that time should your hospital be selected for an interview.

If you have any questions about this collection of information, please contact Dr. Maria Dillard at the National Institute of Standards and Technology at 202-281-0908 or maria.dillard@nist.gov or Dr. Domingo Marques, Horsley Witten Team member, Albizu University at 787-725-6500 or dmarques@albizu.edu.

2. Outreach Email to Potential Interview Respondents

Dear _________,

Thank you for your willingness to participate in an interview about your institution’s impacts and recovery from Hurricane Maria. Your hospital has been selected for an interview based on the information provided during the survey previously completed about your institution’s recovery from Hurricane Maria as well as characteristics of your institution (e.g., size, location). I have included some additional detail about the interview for your consideration at the bottom of this email.

Please confirm your participation by responding to this email with the most up to date contact information. We can then schedule a date and time to conduct the interview and select the mode of interview that is most convenient for you (e.g., phone, video, in person).

Thank you for your consideration,

[student name]

Additional Interview Information

• This voluntary interview will take up to 60 minutes to complete and can be conducted via telephone, video call, or in-person visit, depending on your preference and current COVID protocols at Albizu University and your institution. With your consent, the interview will be audio recorded.

• The interview is designed to build upon the type of information collected during the survey and collect additional detail and depth of information, including your institution’s experience related to:

  • The repair and recovery process from the hurricane

  • If and how the hurricane impacts disrupted your hospital’s ability to provide services

  • The resources needed to facilitate your hospital’s recovery

  • The actions your hospital is taking to prepare for future events.

• There are no known risks or direct benefits to you of participating. We hope to gain more knowledge on how your institution’s functioning was affected by Hurricane Maria, so that we can learn from your experiences to help communities better prepare for similar events in the future.

3. Outreach Phone Call to Potential Interview Respondents

Hello, my name is___________________,  and I am an Albizu University graduate student calling on behalf of NIST – The US Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology. May I please speak with [named respondent]?

Interviewer: If person answering call is not respondent and asks what this is regarding: [respondent name] indicated they are interested in participating in an interview about your institution’s recovery from Hurricane Maria, and I am following-up to schedule that interview.

If currently unavailable, ask for a date and time they can be reached or leave a voicemail, where possible.

Once the appropriate respondent is on the phone, proceed to text below.

Thank you for your willingness to participate in an interview about your institution’s impacts and recovery from Hurricane Maria. Your hospital has been selected for an interview based on the information provided during the survey previously completed about your institution’s recovery from Hurricane Maria as well as characteristics of your institution (e.g., size, location). Is now a good time to further discuss some details about the interview and schedule a time for the discussion?

• If YES:

  • "Ok—great. This voluntary interview will take up to 60 minutes to complete and can be conducted via telephone, video call, or in-person visit, depending on your preference and current COVID protocols at Albizu University and your institution. With your consent, the interview will be audio recorded.

  • The interview is designed to build from the type of information collected during the survey and collect additional detail and depth of information, including your institution’s experience related to:

    • The repair and recovery process from the hurricane

    • If and how the hurricane impacts disrupted your hospital’s ability to provide services

    • The resources needed to facilitate your hospital’s recovery

    • The actions your hospital is taking to prepare for future events.

  • There are no known risks or direct benefits to you of participating. We hope to gain more knowledge on how your institution’s functioning was affected by Hurricane Maria, so that we can learn from your experiences to help communities better prepare for similar events in the future.

  • What date and time works best for you in terms of scheduling the interview?

Note: Modes included will be dependent on COVID Protocols at time of outreach

• Do you prefer an in-person, video, or telephone interview?

  • If Video, ask:

    • Does your institution permit use of ZOOM (i.e., they are not aware of the organization blocking its use)?

    • Do you have a computer with a camera and microphone?

• If yes to both: Proceed with scheduling a Zoom interview

• If no to one or both: Proceed with scheduling a phone interview

• If Telephone: Interviewer- Be sure to confirm the phone number you should use for the interview.

• If In-person: Interviewer- Confirm the location that you should meet the interviewee and ask if there are any COVID protocols or requirements that you should be aware of prior to your visit.

Interviewer: Inform the interviewee that you will send them a calendar appointment for the agreed upon date with the interview details.

Interviewer: be sure to capture mode requested as well as any corresponding contact information needed (e.g., phone number, meeting location of in-person visit). Record all notes in the data collection tracker.

• If NO:

• • Can I call you back at a different time or email you with the additional information?

    • If call:

      • What date and time works best for you?

Interviewer: record date and time in interview tracker and thank respondent.

• If email:

  • OK, I’ll email you that information.

  • Can you please provide me with your email address?

Interviewer: record or confirm email address in interview tracker and thank respondent.

**Interviewer: If an individual is reluctant to provide time or method for follow-up, please ask them if you can follow-up with them in one month (or two months if they say they will be busy one month from now). Aim is to create opportunities for follow-up.

• If there is a reason that the situation with respect to participation in the interview has changed (e.g., original respondent has left the organization or is on extended leave):

  •  Is there someone else at your institution who you can recommend to participate in the interview?

    • If NO: Thank you for your time.

    • If YES:

      • Can you please provide us with their name, work telephone number, and email address?

Interviewer: In the data collection tracking sheet, please record: 1) reason why the original respondent is not available, and 2) newly suggested interviewee name and their contact information.

4. Scheduled Interview with Consent Language

Thank you for meeting with me today.

My name is [INSERT NAME] and I am a graduate student from Albizu University and I am conducting research on behalf of NIST — The US Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology. May I please speak with [named respondent]?

If person answering call is not respondent and asks what this is regarding: We are conducting an interview about your hospital's recovery from Hurricane Maria that is intended to help inform improvements in building codes, standards and practices to make communities in Puerto Rico and across the United States more resilient to hurricanes and other disasters.]

If currently unavailable, ask for a date and time they can be reached or leave a voicemail, where possible.

Once the appropriate respondent is on the phone, proceed to text below...

Thank you again for participating in the study and sharing your experiences with us. Your hospital was selected to participate in an interview based on your hospital’s responses to a previously completed survey. Is now still a good time for you to take the interview? (Interviewer prompt, if needed: The interview will last approximately 60 minutes.)

• If no:

  • Is there a date and time that would work to reschedule?

• If yes: continue to next paragraph

Before we begin, please be aware that interviews will be recorded using audio recording devices to assist with the accuracy of your responses, which will be transcribed for analysis. Do you give your consent to be audio-recorded?

• If no:

  • Thank you for your time. If you are willing to participate in an interview with someone taking notes, we may follow up to schedule this interview at a later date.

• If yes: Thank you. We will ask this question again to document your response on the recording. (BEGIN RECORDING; Continue to next paragraph)

If you feel uncomfortable answering any of the questions, you can skip them, or stop the interview at any time. Your participation is voluntary and without compensation. If you decide to participate in the study, you may withdraw your consent and stop participation at any time without penalty.

Your responses will never be linked to your individual identity or the identity of your hospital. Instead, findings will be aggregated using geography (e.g., region) or other organizational characteristics (e.g., public/private hospital, large/small hospital) to describe broader themes in recovery. Identifying features of the hospital will be altered to protect the confidentiality of your hospital. Information collected in this interview may be shared by NIST with researchers at NIST or with researchers outside NIST. The information that you provide may be used in future research. Any future research will include protections to ensure that both the sharing and use of the information complies with the conditions that I just described.

There are NO KNOWN RISKS or direct benefits to you. We hope to gain more knowledge on how your institution’s functioning was affected by Hurricane Maria, so that we can learn from your experiences to help communities better prepare for similar events in the future.

 

Please confirm you are above 18 years of age, willing to participate in this interview, and consent to our using the information that you provide in the way described.

• Do you consent to this interview being audio recorded?

This collection of information contains Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) requirements approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Notwithstanding any other provisions of the law, no person is required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with, a collection of information subject to the requirements of the PRA unless that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control number. For this collection, the OMB Control number is:0693-0078 with an expiration date: July 31, 2022. Public reporting burden for this collection is estimated to be 60 minutes per interview, 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 aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Attn: Dr. Maria Dillard, NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, MS 8615, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-1710, telephone 202-281-0908, or via email: maria.dillard@nist.gov

Do you have any questions before we begin?

Thank you for taking the time to complete this interview!

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