Appendix Q. Summary of requested changes Feb 2021

Appendix Q. Summary of requested changes

Please find below a summary of the changes being requested in February 2021 to information collection activities under OMB #0970-0545:

Informed Consent Form (Appendix A. Informed consent form - revised)

We propose the following changes to the study’s approved informed consent form:

1. Language to allow study programs to share additional information about participants (mental health diagnoses, their contact information, and referral source) with the study team. This information is useful for a fuller description of the participants, locating study participants for later data collections, and for understanding how participants are referred to programs for assistance.

2. Language to cover the collection of participants’ contact information from public assistance programs to facilitate locating study participants for later data collections.

3. Revision to cover collecting administrative data for up to 20 years after study enrollment, rather than for up to 10 years, to allow for estimation of longer-term impacts on participants for research purposes.

4. Revision to the date for record retention for the Social Security Administration (SSA) to conduct research on study participants from 2028 to 2040. This reflects the current and expected delays in the study schedule due to COVID-19.

5. Removal of the parent/guardian consent portion of the consent form. We anticipate that only one program selected for the evaluation—the Bridges from School to Work program—will enroll youth. We have therefore developed separate versions of the consent form tailored to this program—one to collect consent from parents/guardians of youth; one to collect assent from youth; and one to collect consent from participants age 18 and older. These consent form versions are included with this request in Appendix A.1. Bridges consent forms.

6. Revisions to include language regarding consent for recording of study interviews. Added in the event that other programs selected for the evaluation in the future work with school districts; this language will only appear if a program works with school districts and the applicant attends school in a district that requires consent for recording of the study interviews.

7. Minor revisions requested by the project’s institutional review board (IRB):

   1. Revisions to clarify legal situations when researchers might share confidential information with authorities under a Certificate of Confidentiality

   2. Removal of a sentence stating that the IRB may inspect confidential study information to ensure protection of participants’ rights

   3. Revisions to lower the overall reading level for the consent form

Baseline Survey (Instrument 1. Baseline survey - revised)

We propose the following changes to the baseline survey. These proposed changes do not impact the burden estimates provided in the original ICR submission, given site-specific skip patterns within the survey.

1. We made minor changes to the response options to the youth-based housing situation question (B9a) to collect information on whether youths pay rent to their parents or guardians.

2. We revised the wording for the household benefit question (B13 and B14) to strike the mention of “or anyone in your household” for respondents living in a halfway house or group home. This change will help simplify the question for affected respondents and allow the study team to collect more accurate information about respondents’ households.

3. We revised the criteria for who will be asked four items about the receipt of SSA benefits (B14, B15, B16, and B17). These items will now only be asked of respondents from a potential program serving the SSA target population if the program does not already use these questions to screen for SSA benefits as part of program eligibility. This change will reduce duplication of information collection and streamline the survey for such a program.

4. To better measure social support outcomes, we modified the question wording and response options for B18 (emergency support) and B19 (financial emergency support). Asking how many people someone can turn to for help, rather than if they have anyone to turn to, will allow a better baseline estimate of social supports for emergencies or need.

5. We added three questions, B20, B21, and B22, on social trust. These questions will be asked of applicants to potential programs that are focused on building trust.

6. Some programs being considered for the NextGen Project serve individuals recently released from jail or prison. We made the following changes to make specific items more appropriate for this population or to collect data on variables that may predict employment outcomes:

   1. The word “current” was added to item B9 (type of housing) to ensure that we collect information about their housing following release from jail or prison.

   2. We changed the structure of the past employment questions (C1 to C4a) so that they ask about employment prior to last arrest. Employment prior to incarceration has been found to be a strong predictor of employment after incarceration.

   3. Item C8 (ever been arrested) would not need to be asked since all participants would have a prior arrest; we therefore added a skip pattern and adjusted the wording slightly in C8 for all other programs.

   4. C9 was revised to collect number of convictions rather than whether ever convicted. A new item, C9a, was added to collect the number of felony convictions.

   5. Question wording and response options for item C10 were revised to collect more detail about parole or probation.

   6. Item C10a was added to collect the type of crime committed and C12a was added to collect time spent in last incarceration.

7. We revised C5 and C6 to focus only on challenges to working, instead of including challenges to pursuing training and education. We added item C6b1 to collect information on whether lacking documents needed for work was a specific challenge to employment.

8. We added some items (C4b, C5a, C6e1, C6e2, C6r, and C6s) to collect information on whether COVID-19 posed specific challenges to employment for study participants and if COVID-19 impacted previous employment.

9. We added a new item (D1a) to collect information on whether the respondent is fully vaccinated for the coronavirus since this may be a requirement of employers in the future and is likely to be associated with employment outcomes.

We have updated the question-by-question justification for the baseline survey to reflect the changes proposed above and included it with this change request submission (Appendix B. Question-by-question justification for baseline survey - revised).

Identifying and Contact Information (Instrument 2. Identifying and contact information - revised)

RAPTER® is a secure, web-based system that program staff will use to determine program eligibility (for some programs), administer consent to participants, collect their identifying and contact information, and conduct random assignment. Proposed changes to the RAPTER identifying and contact information collection (Instrument 2) do not impact the burden estimates provided in the original ICR submission. We propose the following revisions to Instrument 2:

1. One program under strong consideration for inclusion in the study currently uses the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised (CESD-R, added as item B2) as a screening tool. Although these items are a program requirement to determine eligibility (not part of the NextGen Project), we propose to include these questions in RAPTER to facilitate the program’s intake process. Program staff would be able to administer this scale and receive an immediate score indicating the person’s eligibility for the program. If an individual is eligible for the program based on the CESD-R score, staff could then immediately administer the study consent form. The study team will maintain CESD-R scores for those who are eligible for the program (that is, those with scores of more than 16 on the scale) and consent to participate in the study. The revised consent form indicates that the program may share the eligibility screener score with the study team (Appendix A. Informed consent form – revised).

2. The CESD-R will only display for the program that requires it as part of its eligibility screening to facilitate program intake; other programs will skip these items.

3. The study is not planning to use consent by proxy, so we removed this option in item B3. If interventions involve adults or youths with cognitive disabilities, the project will rely on determinations, screenings, or assessments made by site staff to ensure the potential participants can understand the consent process and implications of participating in the study. If site staff determine that a potential participant is unable to understand, that individual will be exempt from the study.

4. As noted above, we anticipate that only one program selected for the evaluation will enroll youth. The following questions are only applicable to that program and will not display for programs that do not enroll youth. In the event that other programs selected for the evaluation in the future work with school districts and/or youth, the items will display for those programs, as applicable.

   1. For item B3, we added a new question to ask if the applicants enrolling in the study are in a prefilled school district name. This item will allow us to find out if enrollees are part of a school district for interventions that may work with school districts. It will only be displayed for interventions that take place in schools.

   2. Also for item B3, we added a question to ask if the applicant consents to being recorded. This question will only be asked if the applicant attends school in a district that requires consent for recording of the study interviews. This aligns with the revisions made to the consent forms (Appendix A. Informed consent form – revised; and Appendix A.1. Bridges consent forms), as described above.

   3. We added the same two items to B4, consent by parent/guardian, as B3. B4 now asks if applicants are part of a school district and asks for parental/guardian consent for recording of study interviews. This aligns with the parent/guardian consent form tailored for the Bridges program (Appendix A.1. Bridges consent forms).

5. We added a question to item B5 to collect participants’ Instagram addresses. OMB approved the collection of Instagram addresses under the Evaluation of Employment Coaching for TANF and Other Related Populations (OMB # 0970-0506) and it has been helpful for locating study participants for data collections.

6. We added a question to item B5 to collect the program’s client identification number. This will allow the research contractor to share data with the program using only identification numbers rather than personally identifiable information.

7. We added one question (item B9) about the likelihood that the study participant will be assigned to a career navigator. This item will be asked only for programs in which the study participant may be assigned to a career navigator, and will be used to estimate the impact of the program on the subgroup of study participants who are likely to be assigned to a career navigator.

We have updated the question-by-question justification for the identifying and contact information to reflect the changes proposed above and included it with this change request (Appendix C. Question-by-question justification for identifying and contact information - revised).

Service receipt tracking (Instrument 5. Service receipt tracking - revised)

We propose changes to the service receipt data collection to customize it by program in two ways: (1) customization to only display fields that are relevant for each program; and (2) customization to populate program-specific response options for some service receipt categories. These changes are necessary to ensure service receipt data collection captures only program-specific services. These proposed changes do not impact the burden estimates provided in the original ICR submission.

The following table describes how the screens in Instrument 5 will be customized for the different types of programs that have been or may be selected for the evaluation. In addition, across all types of programs, we added an item to screens C3 and C4 to collect information about the location of any services delivered in person.

Type of program	Service receipt tracking screens	Changes specific to program
Program that serves adults with justice involvement	C1. Participant Summary C2. Assign program staff to participant case	These screens require the name of the program staff to be added but require no further tailoring.
	C3. Add service contact	The “Service Content” section will not be displayed. This information is not needed for these programs because the staff who enter service receipt data only provide one type of service.
	C4. Record collaboration with employer and other partners C5. Record work-based experience and wage subsidies C6. Record education or training programs C7. Add financial or in-kind support C8. Add referral	These screens will not be displayed as they are not applicable for this program.
	C9. Update participant case status	This screen will not be displayed because the information will be collected through administrative data.
	D1. Group event summary screen D2. Schedule event screen D3. Manage group event roster D4. Record group event attendance	These screens will not be displayed as they are not applicable for this program.
Program that offers career navigation and mental health services	C1. Participant Summary C2. Assign program staff to participant screen	These screens require the name of the program staff to be added but require no further tailoring.
	C3. Add service contact	Service content types: EGC services: Orientation/intake Career counseling Referral to FAST partners Support services (financial or in-kind support) Goal setting Case management CN services: Orientation/intake Benefits counseling Resume development Job applications Job development On-the-job training Job retention Health navigator (1-1): Orientation/intake Health insurance application Other issue with health insurance Housing search Hygiene/health needs Health navigator (group) Peer group facilitation
	C4. Record collaboration with employer and other partners C5. Record work-based experience and wage subsidies C6. Record education or training programs	These screens will not be displayed as they are not applicable to this program.
	C7. Add financial or in-kind support	Tailoring of types of support: Transportation benefits Emergency assistance Housing Education and training Materials for employment (such as clothing or equipment for work) Assistance with birth certifications and identification Gift card Hygiene or health supplies GES store certificate The item about the reason for providing support will not be displayed because only one reason is applicable to these programs: to support participation in the program.
	C8. Add referral	Purpose of referral: Housing Food security Education Child care Nutritionist Parenting coach Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services (ARMHS) The item about referral agency will not be displayed because there is only one referral agency for each category of possible referral.
	C9. Update participant status	Case statuses: Active TANF case closed and not receiving career navigator services Transferred to another provider in service area (opted out of FAST services) Transferred to another provider in service area (non-use of FAST services) Moved out of service area Deceased Completed
	D1. Group event summary screen D2. Schedule event screen D3. Manage group event roster D4. Record group event attendance	These screens will not be displayed as they are not applicable to this program.
Program that provides cognitive behavioral therapy for caregivers with depressive symptoms	C1. Participant Summary C2. Assign program staff to participant case	These screens require the name of the program staff to be added but require no further tailoring.
	C3. Add service contact	Service content: Meet with community mental health ambassador: Intake Check-in on progress Assistance with transport to group Address specific participant concern Meet with clinical group leader outside of group Meet with employment specialist
	C4. Record collaboration with employer and other partners C5. Record work-based experience and wage subsidies C6. Record education or training programs	These screens will not be displayed as they are not applicable to this program.
	C7. Add financial or in-kind support	The item about the reason for providing support will not be displayed because only one reason is applicable to these programs: to support participation in the program. Similarly, the item about type of support will not be displayed because these programs provide only one type of support: gift card.
	C8. Add referral	Referral agency will be: DTA Other agency Purposes of referral will be: Employment services Housing Food security Education Child care Nutritionist Parenting Mental health Physical health
	C9. Update participant status D1. Group event summary D2. Schedule event screen D3. Manage group event roster D4. Record group event attendance	No changes.

Semi-structured employer discussion guide (Instrument 9. Semi-structured employer discussion guide -revised)

We propose the following changes to the employer discussion guide. These proposed changes do not impact the burden estimates provided in the original ICR submission.

1. We added the study contact information if the respondent has questions.

2. We added an interviewer note to remind the interviewers to record the mode (phone or video) of the interview if not conducted face-to-face.

3. Throughout the discussion guide we added notes for the interviewer to probe about any changes as a result of COVID-19. In section E1. Work Experiences, we added to the interviewer note some examples of affected work experiences such as offering virtual work experiences, implementing social distancing or other safety measures, and adding or discontinuing work experiences. In section E2. Employees Hired through Intervention, we added to the interviewer note some examples like characteristics of employees or details about their employment. Including these examples in the interviewer probes will help respondents think about how the COVID-19 pandemic may have affected their work.

4. In section E2. Employees Hired through Intervention, we revised the question on participant strengths to ask “Which participants do you think are most successful here?” We also revised the question on participant challenges to ask “Do these challenges differ across subgroups of participants?” Responses to these questions will help provide important context about employers participating in the study.