[Federal Register: August 3, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 148)]
[Notices]
[Page 46545-46546]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03au04-77]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[60Day-04-0572]
Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and
Recommendations
In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for opportunity for public comment on
proposed data collection projects, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects.
To request more information on the proposed projects or to obtain a
copy of the data collection plans and instruments, or to send comments
contact Sandi Gambescia, CDC Assistant Reports Clearance Officer, 1600
Clifton Road, MS-E11, Atlanta, GA 30333 or send an e-mail to
omb@cdc.gov.
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents,
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other
forms of information technology. Written comments should be received
within 60 days of this notice.
Proposed Project
CDC and ATSDR Health Message Testing System Status--Revision--
Office of the Director, Office of Communication (OD/OC), Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) protects people's health and safety by preventing
and controlling diseases and injuries; promotes healthy living through
strong partnerships with local, national and international
organizations, and enhances health decisions by providing credible
information on critical health issues.
Members of the public and health practitioners at all levels
require up-to-date, credible information about health and safety in
order to make rational decisions. Such information affects the health
and well-being of people across all stages of life by making our food
supply safe, identifying harmful behaviors, and improving our
environment.
CDC, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
(ATSDR), must fulfill their mission and mandate to frequently
communicate urgent and sensitive health messages with the general
public, members of the public with certain diseases or disabling
conditions, and those at a greater risk of exposure to disease or
injury causing agents. CDC/ATSDR makes this crucial health information
available through many channels including books, periodicals, and
monographs; internet web sites; health and safety guidelines; reports
from investigations and emergency responses; public health monitoring
and statistics; travel advisories; answers to public inquiries; and
health education campaigns.
In addition to serving the public, CDC/ATSDR delivers health
information that enables health providers to make critical decisions.
For instance, the practicing medical and dental communities and the
nation's health care providers are target audiences for numerous
official CDC recommendations concerning the diagnosis and treatment of
disease, immunization schedules, infection control, and clinical
prevention practices. CDC/ATSDR offers technical assistance and
training to health professionals as well.
[[Page 46546]]
In order to ensure that the public and other key audiences, like
health care providers, understand the information, are motivated to
take action, and are not offended or react negatively to the messages *
* * it is critical to test messages and materials prior to their
production and release. Currently, each CDC program developing health
messages is required to submit its message development and testing
activities for individual OMB review. Many CDC programs have extremely
short deadlines for developing and producing health messages. Some
deadlines are imposed by Congress, and others are necessitated by the
time-sensitive nature of the work. Many programs cannot accommodate the
time required for OMB approval, and therefore skip the message testing
step altogether, or resort to testing specific portions of messages
with 9 or fewer individuals. The science of health communication does
not support these programmatic practices. In fact, these undesirable
alternatives weaken CDC/ATSDR position as a research-based public
health agency providing credible health information that people can
count on and use.
CDC may achieve a greater level of efficacy if it can use three
routine health message development and testing methods: (1) Central
Location Intercept Interviews (i.e. ``shopping mall'' interviews); (2)
Customer Satisfaction Phone Interviews; (3) Focus Groups; and (4) Web-
enabled research. Virtually every Center, Institute, and Office (CIO)
at CDC could achieve a higher level of confidence that health messages
were understandable and would provoke no unintended consequences if
they were empowered to use these methods efficiently. The CDC Office of
Communication therefore requests approval for renewal of the Health
Message Testing System that will conduct up to 64 message testing
activities per year for each of three years. If all 64 testing
activities are implemented, total respondent burden per year is
estimated at 3200 hours.
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Average
Number of Number of burden per Total burden
Form of research activity respondents responses per response (in hours
respondent hrs.)
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Central Location Intercept Interviews........... 1600 1 30/60 800
Customer Satisfaction Phone Interviews.......... 1200 1 30/60 600
Focus Groups.................................... 1200 1 30/60 600
Web-enabled Research............................ 2400 1 30/60 1200
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Total....................................... 6,400 .............. .............. 3,200
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Dated: July 27, 2004.
Alvin Hall,
Director, Management Analysis and Services Office, Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 04-17617 Filed 8-2-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P