Hcp Fg

HCP Focus Group Guide

Form Approved

              OMB # 0990-0459

              Expiration Date: 08/31/2023

OIDP Social Norming of Pediatric Vaccines Campaign

Materials Testing – HCP Focus Group Guide

March 17, 2022

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Note: Consent will be obtained during the recruitment and enrollment process, but it is also incorporated into the introduction of the discussion guides. Given that the discussions are being conducted digitally, we also will obtain verbal consent from all health care provider (HCP) participants before beginning the discussions.

Welcome and Zoom Instructions (5 minutes)

Note: This portion of the focus group will include basic logistics information related to the Zoom platform.

HCP Discussion Consent and Audio Recording Permissions (5 minutes)

Hello, thank you for taking the time to participate in today's discussion. My name is [NAME] and I am a [ROLE] at The MayaTech Corporation, working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) to lead this discussion. OIDP is developing a communications campaign and has asked us to conduct a series of group discussions with health care providers to help OIDP better understand what providers think about materials developed for the campaign. The campaign is designed to encourage providers to deliver strong recommendations to parents to catch up on routine childhood vaccination and address vaccine misinformation among parents.

Your participation in the discussion will help us better understand the thoughts and experiences of providers related to routine childhood vaccination recommendations and among parents with young children.

Before we begin the discussion, I am going to go through informed consent. Your participation in this discussion does not involve any risks that are not ordinarily encountered in daily life. Your participation is voluntary, and you have the right to stop the discussion or refrain from answering any questions. By agreeing, you are acknowledging that you understand your rights as a participant and consent to participate.

[NAME] will be taking notes to capture the key themes in our discussion. However, if you are willing, we would also like to audio record the conversation. The audio recording is for our use only, to ensure our notes are accurate, and we will delete the recording at the end of the project. Your full name will not be used in the report. During the discussion, we ask that you only use your first name or a nickname.

I want to assure you that even if we do record the conversation, we will not attribute what you specifically say when we summarize or share our findings. Again, we will not include your name or other identifying information in any written reports. We want you to think of this as a safe environment for sharing your opinions and feelings about the questions we raise. The whole point is to hear your perspective on the materials.

The discussion will last approximate 90 minutes. If you need to take a break or leave briefly, please feel free to do so.

We know that you are busy and appreciate your time today. At the conclusion of the discussion, we will let you know about how to receive the incentive as a token of appreciation for your participation.

Do you have any questions at this time?

Does everyone consent to participate and give permission to record the discussion?
Facilitator will note at the beginning of the recording that all participants have consented to recording.

Ground Rules (5 minutes)

Before we get going, I’d like to share a few ground rules:

• Some of my colleagues are also on the call, and they will be observing our discussion.

• My role today is to help us stay on the right track and ensure that we complete this session within the allotted time frame. That means it may not be possible for everyone to answer every question, and that is okay. There will be an opportunity at the end of the call to share your opinion if there was something you did not have a chance to say before.

• There are no right or wrong answers. All comments, positive and negative, what you know and don’t know, are important.

• I request that we all respect each other’s opinions, even if there are areas of disagreement.

• Please feel free to speak without raising your hand, but please speak one at a time.

• You are welcome to respond to each other as well as to me.

• If you need to step away for a moment, feel free to do so, but please come back as soon as possible because all opinions are important.

• Please turn off or silence your mobile devices if possible.

• I am not a medical doctor nor an expert on vaccines, and I did not create any of the materials that we review today. I am here to hear your opinions and suggestions related to the materials for providers such as yourselves.

Facilitated Discussion (75 minutes)

1. General Experiences with Routine Vaccines for Young Children (10 minutes)

Today, we are discussing materials to assist providers such as yourself with encouraging parents to get caught up on the routine vaccines for young children. After a brief discussion about your role in pediatric vaccination and perceptions of the status of pediatric vaccinations in your practice or community, we will show you some materials for which we would like your reaction and suggestions for improvement, if applicable.

1. First, tell us about your role in either administering or recommending routine pediatric vaccines.

Probe: Do you make it a point to encourage parents of young children to get caught up?

Probe: Has your role or approach to recommending routine pediatric vaccines changed within the past year or two?

2. In general, how receptive are parents to getting their young children vaccinated?

Probe: In your practice? In the larger community?

Probe: Are there certain characteristics of parents (for example, mothers vs. fathers, first-time parents, racial/ethnic groups, religious groups) who are most receptive? Least receptive?

3. To what extent do cultural or racial/ethnic backgrounds of parents or their children influence how you discuss or recommend routine pediatric vaccines?

4. What materials (printed, websites, social media sites, or other sources) do you use to help in discussing or recommending routine pediatric vaccines for young children? What materials do you wish you had when making these recommendations?

5. What do you find challenging about making routine vaccination recommendations to parents of young children?

6. To what extent have parents’ receptiveness to vaccinating their young children changed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic? What do you believe are the reasons for those changes?

2. Feedback on Materials for HCPs for Discussing Vaccines With Parents (50 minutes)

Now I’d like to show you some specific materials being developed for providers that can be used to improve recommendations or discussions about routine vaccines with parents of young children.

OIDP is in the process of developing materials aimed at motivating health care providers to talk to parents about routine childhood vaccines and encourage them to get their children caught up if they are behind. OIDP is in the very early stages of developing these materials, and we have some draft concepts to share with you today. These concepts are not intended to be fully developed materials that you might find on the campaign website or printed in a journal. Instead, they are visual representations of some ideas that may be further developed into social media posts, online ads, and website resources.

I’d like to show you [two OR three] different concepts to get your opinions on them. We will be looking at one material for each concept. 

Let’s start with Concept 1. Again, these are not intended to be fully developed materials – they are just concepts that could be developed into materials later. I’m going to show each material and then ask you some questions to gather your feedback. Then we will do the same for the [second OR second and third] concept(s).

Moderator to display each stimulus individually, then ask the following questions for each. Questions do not have to be asked in the same order for each stimulus.

7. What is your main takeaway from this material?

8. Let’s talk about the different elements in the material for a moment.

1. Is the material clear and easily understood?

   1. Are there any confusing terms or concepts?

   2. What could be more clear?

   3. Are there any particularly sensitive or controversial aspects of the material as they relate to your practice? Your community?

2. Is the content relevant for providers such as yourself?

   1. What would make it more useful? More relevant?

3. Are the images appropriate for providers like yourselves?

9. REMOVE STIMULUS FROM SCREEN AND ASK:
   Tell me what you recall about the material you just viewed.

10. Would this material motivate you to have discussions with parents about getting caught up on their young children’s vaccinations?

    1. What is the strongest point of the material?

    2. Which parts of the material have the greatest potential to motivate you?

11. To what extent would this material be useful for you and/or your staff?

12. Would you share this material with your professional peers? Why or why not?

13. Exclusively for HCP groups with predominantly African American or Hispanic/Latino patients:

    1. Do you have suggestions for improving the cultural or linguistic appropriateness of the material?

3. Perceptions About Credible or Trusted Sources of Information About How to Support Vaccination in Your Practice (10 minutes)

14. Do you have a trusted or credible source you consider a go-to source to help you with encouraging parents of young children to get caught up on their vaccinations?

Probe: If not mentioned: What about CDC or other governmental sources? How do you view these?

15. How about your colleagues who are also health care providers—where do they go for this material?

Probe: If not mentioned: What about CDC or other governmental sources? How do they view these?

16. How about a go-to source for parents?

Probe: If not mentioned: What about CDC or other governmental sources? How are these viewed?

4. Close (5 minutes)

17. Is there anything else you would like to share with us about improving these materials?

Probe: I have asked you all the questions that I have today. Are there any final thoughts or suggestions?

Thank you all so much for participating today. Your thoughts and opinions will be very useful in helping OIDP refine these materials for health care providers to talk about pediatric vaccinations with parents of young children. You will each be contacted individually about receiving your incentive. Thank you and have a good day/evening.

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