Appendix B_Informal Contacts Recruitment and Outreach

OMB No: 0906-0098

Expiration Date: 7/31/2027

Appendix B. Recruitment and Outreach Materials

B1: Frequently asked questions about the study – for program staff

Frequently Asked Questions:

Assessing and Describing Practice Transitions Among Evidence-Based Home Visiting Programs(ADAPT-HV)

What is the ADAPT-HV project and the Assessing the Use of Informal Contacts to Promote Caregivers’ Engagement and Satisfaction with Early Childhood Home Visiting Through Rapid Cycle Learning study?

The ADAPT-HV project seeks to identify, develop, study, and disseminate evidence-informed resources and strategies that early childhood home visiting programs may use to strengthen home visiting services, and, ultimately, achieve better outcomes for children and families. This study is focused on learning about informal contact strategies that home visiting programs are implementing to improve services and promote families’ engagement in visits.

What activities are involved in the study?

The study uses rapid cycle learning to identify, refine, and test various informal contact strategies with families. Data collection activities include a series of focus groups with program staff and families and feedback collected via online questionnaires. The study will be conducted by four home visiting programs.

What will study participants do?

A designated site liaison at each home visiting site will work with the ADAPT-HV study team to schedule and recruit program staff and families for focus group sessions. The liaison will be responsible for managing communication between the study team and staff at participating program sites.

Program staff (including, the program director, managers, supervisors, and home visitors) will participate in five, 60-minute virtual focus group sessions to discuss their perceptions of the utility of informal contact strategies and identify areas for improvement. At the conclusion of each focus group, participants will be asked to complete a brief online survey.

Families will engage in two 60-minute virtual focus group sessions facilitated by the ADAPT-HV study team, to share their perceptions of home visiting services and the utility of informal contacts and discuss suggestions for improvement. At the conclusion of each focus group, participants will be asked to complete a brief online survey. Participants will be offered a $40 gift card for their participation in each focus group.

Home visitors who work directly with families will implement a selected informal contact change (or changes) and will complete a weekly questionnaire about their experiences implementing informal contact strategies with families. Home visitors will also share a web-based form with families at the end of home visits and ask families to complete and submit the form to the study team. The form asks about families’ impressions of the informal contact strategies used by home visitors.

What programs are qualified to participate in the study?

Early childhood home visiting programs that receive funding from the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program, and that currently include or are willing to develop and try informal contact strategies between home visitors and families are eligible to participate. The study seeks to include programs with diverse characteristics, including service delivery modality (in-person, virtual, or hybrid), geographic location, program size, home visiting model, age ranges of participating children, and community-level race and ethnicity.

How will the study select programs for participation?

The ADAPT-HV team is looking for programs that are potentially interested in participating in the study. The team is also gathering recommendations from federal staff, state awardees, researchers, technical assistance providers, and others for programs that might be a good fit for the study. The study team will conduct outreach by email and telephone to potentially interested programs to provide further details about the study, assess eligibility for the study, and discuss programs’ willingness and availability to participate.

When will this take place, and how long will programs participate?

The length of time required for study participants and participating programs is approximately [#] months between [DATE] through [DATE] 2024.

How will responses to questionnaires and focus group discussions be protected?

Information collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law.

For questionnaires, privacy means that only the study team will have access to the responses and that their individual responses will not be shared with any home visiting program or local or state agencies or identified in any report. For questionnaires administered to families, the web survey will include a consent form explaining that home visitors will not have access to any families’ responses.

At the beginning of each focus group session, the facilitator will explain and ensure all participants understand the purpose of the study, their privacy rights, and that their participation in the study is voluntary. The focus group facilitators will ask respondents not to share any information they hear from others during the group. Focus groups will be recorded, and recordings, notes, and transcriptions will be saved to a secure drive and only the study team will have access.

Who is conducting the ADAPT-HV study?

The Policy & Research Group (PRG) is conducting this project in partnership with Mathematica, on behalf of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and in collaboration with the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF).

Interested in participating?
Participation in the study is completely voluntary, and programs and individual participants can withdraw at any time for any reason without penalty. If you are interested in participating, please contact Teresa Smith, project director at: (225)-281-3783 or teresa@policyandresearch.com.

Where can I get more information about the study?

If you would like more information about the ADAPT-HV study, please contact Teresa Smith, project director at: (225)-281-3783, or teresa@policyandresearch.com.

B2: Focus group recruitment flyer for families

Content:

• “Parents & Caregivers, JOIN OUR FOCUS GROUP!”

• “TO REGISTER: Contact your home visitor”

• “Join us for a 1-hour discussion on your home visiting experience!”

• “Participants will receive a $40 gift card as a token of appreciation!”

• “Date and time are to be determined.”

Public Burden Statement: This information collection is part of the Assessing and Describing Practice Transitions Among Evidence-Based Home Visiting Programs in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Study, which aims to identify and study practices implemented in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency that support evidence-based practice and have the potential to enhance home visiting programming. One of the practices the study identified is the use of informal contacts. Informal contacts are any contacts between a home visitor and family that occur between formal home visits (e.g., text messages, emails). The purpose of this information collection is to better understand, through rapid cycle learning, how MIECHV-funded home visiting programs can use informal contacts to improve service delivery and promote caregiver’s engagement and satisfaction. The OMB control number for this information collection is 0906-0098 and it is valid until 7/31/2027. This information collection is voluntary. Data will be private to the extent permitted by the law. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average less than 1 hour per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed, to review and complete the information collection. If you have comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 14N39, Rockville, Maryland, 20857 or paperwork@hrsa.gov, Attention: Information Collections Clearance Officer.