[Federal Register: February 10, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 27)]
[Notices]
[Page 7112-7113]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10fe05-78]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[30Day-05-0572]
Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and
Recommendations
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a
list of information collection requests under review by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction
Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call
the CDC Reports Clearance Officer at (404) 371-5976 or send an e-mail
to omb@cdc.gov. Send written comments to CDC Desk Officer, Human
Resources and Housing Branch, New Executive Office Building, Room
10235, Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 395-6974. Written
comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.
Proposed Project
CDC and ATSDR Health Message Testing System (0920-0572)--Revision--
Office of the Director, Office of Communication (OD/OC), Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The revision to this submission
is the addition of a request for the program to use Web-enabled panels
as an additional data collection tool that can be used for the projects
within this clearance. 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
[[Page 7113]]
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.
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 four
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, the total estimated annualized burden is
3,000 hours.
Annualized Burden Table:
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Number of Number of Number of Average burden
Data collection activities per respondents per responses per per response
year activity respondent (in hours)
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Intercept and touch screen interviews... 64 1,600 1 30/60
Customer Satisfaction Phone Interviews.. 64 1,200 1 30/60
Focus Groups............................ 64 1,200 1 30/60
Web-enabled research.................... 64 2,400 1 30/60
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Dated: February 3, 2005.
Betsey Dunaway,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Science Officer,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 05-2574 Filed 2-9-05; 8:45 am]
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