Recruitment Letter to Local WIC Clinics

DRAFT Phase I Recruitment Letter to Local WIC Clinics
Dear [Name of Local WIC Clinic Director]:
Your WIC Agency has nominated your clinic to participate in the WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counseling
Study, which is being conducted by Abt Associates Inc. for the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (FNS). The goal of this study is to collect information on how Loving Support
peer counseling has been implemented in States and Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs) that have
received FNS peer counseling grant funds. The information to be gathered will include the evolution of
the local programs, challenges faced during implementation, strategies for addressing those challenges,
and program expenditures.
Your WIC agency was selected as one of the local WIC Agencies with an operational peer counseling
program to be included in the pilot study. We asked each of the participating local WIC agencies to
identify WIC clinics that are implementing the Loving Support peer counseling model in a way that
differs substantially from the way other clinics and service delivery sites in your agency are implementing
it. We want to be able to learn more about these differences in order to get a complete sense of how
Loving Support peer counseling is implemented in your community. Participation in this study is
voluntary. A decision to participate will not affect your agency or your employment status. Nonetheless,
we hope we can count on your clinic’s participation.
The design, activities, and time frame for the fully implemented study are briefly described in the
enclosed study overview. Participation would involve having an Abt senior staff member visit for part of
one day to interview the clinic director, peer counselor supervisor, and peer counselors. On-site data
collection will begin in [early/late Month]. Within the next two weeks, a study coordinator from Abt
Associates will contact you to discuss your clinic’s participation in the pilot study, provide more details
about what participation would involve and, if you agree to participate, to begin the scheduling process.
The confidentiality of all those responding will be protected to the full extent provided by law. If you
have any questions about the study, you can contact me at 301-634-1833 or
[email protected]. If you have questions regarding your rights as a participant in this study,
please call Marianne Beauregard at 617-492-7100 or e-mail [email protected]. Calls
made to these numbers may require a toll.
I hope that you can support us in this effort. The findings from the study will be used to disseminate
information on implementing the Loving Support peer counseling model; assess technical assistance and
training needs; and provide information to FNS and other stakeholders demonstrating how State agencies
are using the peer counseling grant funding. Reports will not name specific agencies or identify
respondents by name or location.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Joan E. McLaughlin, Ph.D.
Project Director for the WIC Breastfeeding Peer Counseling Study
Abt Associates Inc.