Moderator’s Guide, pag, TASK H, OCTOBER 2, 2008
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CDC Physical Activity Guidelines Formative Testing Focus Groups
Task H: Contemplators
MODERATOR’S GUIDE
Welcome everyone. My name is __ and I work for the Academy for Educational Development. Thank you for coming for this discussion. Before we begin, I’d like to explain a few things about this room and how the discussion will work.
We are not trying to sell or promote any product or service to you.
There are no right or wrong answers--We want to know your opinions.
There are microphones in this
room that we are using to audiotape the discussion.
Afterwards, I have to write a report and by having the tapes it will
help me to do this.
Because we are taping, it
is important that you try to speak one at a time. I may
occasionally interrupt you when two or more people are talking at
once in order to be sure everyone gets a chance to talk and that
responses are accurately recorded.
Behind me is a one-way mirror. Some of the people working on this project are observing this discussion so that they can hear your opinions directly from you. However, your identity and anything you personally say here will remain confidential. Your names, addresses, and phone numbers will not be given to anyone, and no one will contact you after this group is over. When I write my report, I will not refer to anyone by name.
The group will last for two hours. I want to be sure not to keep you here any longer, so I may occasionally interrupt the discussion to move us along.
Please turn off your cell phones. Should you need to go to the restroom during the discussion, please feel free to leave, but we’d appreciate it if you would go one at a time.
I do not work for
the people who are sponsoring this research. If you have something
negative to say, it is all right. Remember, there are no right or
wrong answers. We just want to hear your opinions.
INTRODUCTION AND WARM-UP (5 minutes)
Let’s go around the table and introduce ourselves to each other including:
your first name;
where you’re from;
and what you like to do in your spare time—a hobby, activity, sport, etc. or anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself.; and
what media you use when you want to learn about health issues (AS PEOPLE SPEAK, PROBE FOR INTERNET, PRINT MATERIALS, ETC)
MEDIA CHANNELS AND HEALTH INFORMATION SEEKING BEHAVIOR (10 minutes)
Before we talk about physical activity, I’m interested in knowing how many of you actively look for information about health topics. [ASK FOR SHOW OF HANDS; SOME DISCUSSION.]
If there were a health issue that you wanted to learn more about, where or to whom would you go for this information? [FIRST GET UNAIDED RESPONSES, THEN PROBE SPECIFICALLY FOR USE OF MEDIA CHANNELS]
CURRENT PHYSICAL ACTIVITY - BELIEFS, NORMS AND BEHAVIOR (10 minutes)
Can you tell me some reasons why you would be physically active? What are your goals? [PROBE: TO BE FIT, HEALTH, LOSE WEIGHT, LIVE LONGER, FEEL BETTER]
What are some of the ways you’re physically active in your daily lives?
How much physical activity (and what ways) do you engage in during your leisure time?
How physically active are you at your job? (What ways?)
Do you ever walk or bike to go to work or get around your community?
How physically active are you when you’re at home? (What ways?)
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY GUIDELINES – AWARENESS (5 minutes)
Have you heard of any recommendations or guidelines about how much physical activity you should get?
Where have you heard about how much physical activity you should be getting? [PROBE ABOUT INFO CHANNELS—TV, DOCTOR, FRIENDS, ETC. LISTEN FOR MENTIONS OF NEW GUIDELINES.]
Who came up with or sponsored these guidelines? [PROBE: SPECIFIC ORGS, GOV’T, ETC. PROBE ON GOV’T RECS - WHERE AND WHAT THEY HEARD AND THEIR REACTION TO THEM.]
[READ OUT LOUD] Several government agencies worked together to develop and publicize guidelines on how much physical activity an adult should get each week. These were launched on October 7, 2008. There are guidelines for children and youth, for older adults, and for people with special conditions; but today we will focus on the guidelines for active adults.
One of the government agencies, CDC, has posted the new physical activity guidelines on its Web page; another agency has developed a brochure to help Americans understand and accept the new guidelines. For the next hour or so, I would like to show you some of materials that could be used to explain the guidelines and get your reactions.
Web Page #1: Physical Activity for Everyone, Introduction (10 min)
[SHOW WEB PAGE #1 ON A BOARD AND PASS OUT HANDOUTS WITH THE PAGE. GIVE PARTICIPANTS A FEW MINUTES TO REVIEW THE PAGE.]
What is your initial reaction to this Web page? What are the first words that come to mind? What do you think is the main idea of this page? What is it telling you? How does it make you feel?
What aspect(s) of this page do you particularly like? [PROBE FOR WORDS, PHRASES, VISUALS AND GRAPHICS]
Is there anything—words or images—you especially dislike? What? Why?
Are there any words or phrases that are confusing or hard to understand? [PROBE SPECIFICALLY ON KEY PHRASES AND WHAT THAT MEANS TO THEM]
What would you do next, if you saw this page? Does it make you want to learn more? Which buttons would you want to click?
Did you see the ____ button/link?
What do you expect to see if you click on this? Would you click on it?
What else would you hope to find at that page?
Web Page #2, Physical Activity for Everyone (Active Adults); How much physical activity do adults need? (25 min)
If you had clicked on the button that says ____, here’s where it would take you.
[ROTATE THE 2 VERSIONS OF THIS PAGE. SHOW WEB PAGE #2 (A or B) ON A BOARD AND PASS OUT HANDOUTS WITH THE WEB PAGE. GIVE PARTICIPANTS A FEW MINUTES TO REVIEW THE PAGE.]
What is your initial reaction to this Web page? What are the first words that come to mind? What do you think is the main idea of this page? What is it telling you? How does it make you feel?
What aspect(s) of this page do you particularly like? [PROBE FOR WORDS, PHRASES, VISUALS AND GRAPHICS]
Is there anything—words or images—you especially dislike? What? Why?
Are there any words or phrases that are confusing or hard to understand? [PROBE SPECIFICALLY ON KEY PHRASES AND WHAT THAT MEANS TO THEM]
The Guidelines
Let’s spend a little time reviewing the guidelines as they are described on this Web page. Our first job together is to help the designers of these pages figure out how they can make the guidelines easy for people to understand. Before we talk much about the guidelines themselves, we’re going to do a little activity to help me with this.
[HAND EACH PARTICIPANT A BLANK SHEET OF PAPER – 8½” x 11” – AND A WIDE-TIP MARKER. DISCOURAGE USE OF FINE-TIP MARKERS, PENS OR PENCILS, WHICH WOULD ALLOW FOR TOO MUCH DETAIL OR INFORMATION ON THE PAGE.]
Each of you has a blank piece of paper and a marker. Imagine now that you want to put these guidelines into practice in your own life. Don’t worry, please, whether you feel you’re currently ready to meet the guidelines. This doesn’t have to be a “realistic” plan for you personally. But I’d like you to use symbols or words to show what you might do in a single week that would meet the guidelines.
You may use just words and numbers if you like, but you may also use stick figures, calendars, clocks, icons – anything that would show what an active week would look like. It doesn’t need to be a work of art and we won’t judge you on how well you’ve displayed the physical activity. Just have some fun with it. The main thing is to make sure that you are showing the types of physical activity and how much you would do to meet the guidelines in one week.
Each of you will have a chance to show what you’ve written or drawn. We’ll discuss what was easy and what was hard about interpreting the new guidelines.
What questions do you have for me about this activity? [ANSWER PEOPLE’S QUESTIONS AND HELP THEM FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH THE ACTIVITY.]
Now take about 5 minutes, please, to show a week’s worth of physical activity that meets the guidelines. [AS PEOPLE WORK, HELP THEM FEEL AT EASE. OFFER A NEW BLANK SHEET IF SOMEONE WANTS TO BEGIN AGAIN.]
Now let’s see what you’ve put on paper. Who wants to show us first? [CALL ON A VOLUNTEER.] Please hold up your sheet and explain, in your own words, what you have shown.
Now that ______ has shown us his/her creation, what do you think? How well does this paper explain the guidelines?
[ALLOW DISCUSSION WITHOUT CORRECTING MISUNDERSTANDINGS. LET PARTICIPANTS HELP ONE ANOTHER WORK THROUGH THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF THE GUIDELINES. GUIDE THEM TO TALK ABOUT NUMBER OF MINUTES/HOURS; INTENSITY LEVELS; MUSCLE STRENGTHENING. SUGGEST THAT PARTICIPANTS CONSULT THE WEB PAGE FOR CLARIFICATION.]
Who else would like to show us what you’ve created?
[FOLLOW THE SAME TYPE OF DISCUSSION, ALLOWING PARTICIPANTS TO QUESTION OR CORRECT ONE ANOTHER. CONTINUE UNTIL ALL WHO WANT TO HAVE SHOWN AND DISCUSSED THEIR WORK.]
Let’s look again at the guidelines on the Web page. How well are the guidelines presented on the Web page? Which parts of the guidelines (such as minutes or difference between counting “moderate” or “vigorous” minutes) did most of you get “right?” Which parts were hard to understand at first?
Do you have any different understanding of the guidelines now? What aspects became clear for you during the activity? What suggestions do you have for how the Web page could be improved so that everyone can understand the guidelines?
How helpful was the visual part of the Web page? [POINT OUT THE VISUAL DEPICTION.] How does this compare with any visual depictions that some of you used? What’s useful about the Web page visuals? What’s hard to understand?
Thank you all for sharing these ideas. I’m going to ask you to hand them to me, please. We are collecting ideas from everyone in case they are helpful in the next round of design.
[COLLECT PARTICIPANTS’ WORK.]
[SHOW SECOND VERSION OF PAGE WITH ALTERNATIVE VISUAL DEPICTION (PAGE A or B) AND PASS EACH PARTICIPANT A COPY. ASK:] The people who designed these pages want for people to be able to understand the guidelines at a glance. They think the best way might be for the pictures alone to give the meaning. Here is a second visual depiction of the guidelines.
What do you think about this image? What about it helps you understand the guidelines? What is confusing?
Does this make it seem manageable to follow the physical activity guidelines? Or does it look like too much? [PROBE TOO BUSY OR MUCH PHYSICAL ACTIVITY?]
Which of these two versions does a better job showing the guidelines? [PROBE FOR WHY THEY LIKE ONE OVER THE OTHER]
What can you tell the people who designed these that will help them do a better job of using pictures or images to explain the new guidelines? [PROBE FOR DETAILED SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO IMPROVE EACH]
Now that everybody understands what the physical activity guidelines are, I’d like to hear what you think about them.
What are the first words that come to mind? [PROBE FOR INITIAL REACTIONS RELATED TO ACCEPTABILITY, RELEVANCE, AND FEASIBILITY]
How do these guidelines make you feel? [PROBE FOR EMOTIONAL REACTION]
Have you heard about a previous set of physical activity recommendations? Have you considered how these new guidelines are different from the previous ones?
Does it sound like the right amount of physical activity to you? [PROBE: TOO MUCH, TOO LITTLE FOR EACH TYPE?]
Do you feel like these guidelines are meant for you? Do they apply to you?
Are they relevant to your life? Why/why not?
Do you feel like you would be able to put the guidelines that I just read and explained to you into practice in your own life? Why/why not?
Could you start following these guidelines tomorrow? Why/why not?
What would help you?
What would prevent you from doing so?
(Continuing with Adults page)
Who do you think is sponsoring this Web page? Who noticed a logo? Does seeing the CDC logo and name make you trust this information MORE or trust it LESS? Why?
Once you are on this page, would you continue following any of its links? Which buttons or links would you be likely to click on?
Did you see the link to “___”?
What do you expect to see if you click on this? Would you click on it?
What else would you hope to find at that page?
Web Page #3, Adding Physical Activity to Your Life (10 min)
[SHOW WEB PAGE #3 ON A BOARD AND PASS OUT HANDOUTS WITH THE PAGE. GIVE PARTICIPANTS A FEW MINUTES TO REVIEW THE PAGE.]
What is your initial reaction to this Web page? What are the first words that come to mind? What do you think is the main idea of this page? What is it telling you? How does it make you feel?
What would you do next, if you saw this page? Which links or buttons would you want to click?
What aspect(s) of this page do you particularly like? [PROBE FOR WORDS, PHRASES, VISUALS AND GRAPHICS]
Is there anything—words or images—you especially dislike? What? Why?
Are there any words or phrases that are confusing or hard to understand? [PROBE SPECIFICALLY ON KEY PHRASES AND WHAT THAT MEANS TO THEM]
Web Page #4, Success Story (10 min)
[EACH GROUP WILL SEE ONE OF THE SUCCESS STORIES. SHOW WEB PAGE #4 ON A BOARD AND PASS OUT HANDOUTS WITH THE PAGE. GIVE PARTICIPANTS A FEW MINUTES TO REVIEW.]
What is your initial reaction to this Web page? What are the first words that come to mind? What do you think is the main idea of this page? What is it telling you? How does it make you feel?
What aspect(s) of this page do you particularly like? [PROBE FOR WORDS, PHRASES, VISUALS AND GRAPHICS]
Is there anything—words or images—you especially dislike? What? Why?
Are there any words or phrases that are confusing or hard to understand? [PROBE SPECIFICALLY ON KEY PHRASES AND WHAT THAT MEANS TO THEM]
The designers of this page thought this story might help people to understand the guidelines. Does it help YOU? How?
Now that you’ve read this person’s story, does it make you feel like meeting the guidelines are:
Important? If so, what benefits would you get?
Possible?
Something you would try to do?
Tracking Tools
[ROTATE THE 2 TRACKING CHARTS – C) THE TOOL FROM THE CONSUMER BOOKLET AND D) THE ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPED BY AED.]
This is a tool that is part of a booklet designed for people like you. The booklet explains the new guidelines. You are looking at one of the last pages in the booklet.
[SHOW THE FIRST TRACKING CHART (C or D) AND PASS OUT HANDOUTS. GIVE PARTICIPANTS A FEW MINUTES TO REVIEW TOOL.]
What is your initial reaction to this page? What do you think it is for? How does it make you feel?
What aspect(s) of this tool do you particularly like? [PROBE FOR WORDS, PHRASES, VISUALS AND GRAPHICS]
Is there anything—words or images—you especially dislike? What? Why?
Could you imagine yourself using this tool? Under what circumstances?
How would you use the tool? Please walk me through the steps you would use.
What makes it easy to use? What makes it hard to use? What advice do you have to improve the tool?
Now let’s look at a different version of this same page. We’ll discuss this and then compare the two you’ve looked at.
[SHOW THE SECOND TRACKING TOOL (C or D) AND PASS OUT HANDOUTS. GIVE PARTICIPANTS A FEW MINUTES TO REVIEW TOOL.]
What is your initial reaction to this page? What do you think it is for? How does it make you feel?
What aspect(s) of this tool do you particularly like? [PROBE FOR WORDS, PHRASES, VISUALS AND GRAPHICS]
Is there anything—words or images—you especially dislike? What? Why?
Could you imagine yourself using this tool? Under what circumstances?
How would you use the tool? Please walk me through the steps you would use.
What makes it easy to use? What makes it hard to use? What advice do you have to improve the tool?
[ASK PARTICIPANTS TO LOOK AT THE 2 TOOLS SIDE-BY-SIDE.]
Now look at the two tools. Which would be more useful to you? Why?
Which helps make the guidelines clearer?
RECONSIDERING THE GUIDELINES (10 minutes)
We have just spent a couple hours talking about the new physical activity guidelines. How many of you feel you could go home and tell your friends or family how much physical activity an adult needs?
Of all the things you saw and read and heard, what was most helpful in leading you to understand what the guidelines are?
How many of you feel you might try to meet the guidelines? Do you think you could do this? What did you see or read or hear today that most helped you feel that you could, indeed, meet the guidelines?
CLOSING (5 minutes)
The government is working hard on communicating these physical activity guidelines. Given your experience and our discussion today, what “words of wisdom” do you have for them? What are the important ideas that they should remember when communicating this information? [PROBE UNTIL UNPRODUCTIVE]
[PLEASE ASK OBSERVERS IF THEY HAVE ANY ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS]
We’re all done for today. Thank you so much for your time; we appreciate that you came out here tonight. Your opinions and insights have been very helpful. Thanks again and enjoy the rest of your evening.
APPENDIX
Use these descriptions and definitions if participants are not understanding the guidelines as they review the draft materials:
Moderate-intensity aerobic activity is activity that raises your heart rate, allows you to talk but not sing. It includes such activities as fast walking, cycling for pleasure, dancing and yard work.
Vigorous-intensity aerobic activity is activity that causes you to be too out of breath to carry on a conversation. It includes such activities as running, aerobics, fast bicycling, competitive sports, and heavy yard work.
Muscle-strengthening exercises are resistance exercises that increase the strength of your muscles, maintain the integrity of your bones, and improve your balance, coordination, and mobility. Some examples are: Push ups, Pull ups, Leg lifts, Bicep curls, Sit ups, Squats, Bench press, Yoga, working out with resistance bands.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | APPENDIX B: MODERATOR’S GUIDE |
| Author | AED_USER |
| Last Modified By | DHHS |
| File Modified | 2009-04-16 |
| File Created | 2009-04-16 |