Phase 3 focus group guide

Form Approved

OMB No. 0920-0840

Expiration Date 01/31/2013

Development of a Motion Comic for HIV/STI Prevention Among Young People – ages 15-24

Phase 3 Focus Group Moderator Guide

Public reporting burden of this collection of information is estimated to average 120 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to CDC/ATSDR Reports Clearance Officer; 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS D-74, Atlanta, Georgia 30333; Attn: OMB-PRA (0920-0840)

3^rd Focus Group Moderator Guide-Motion Comic

Moderator: Your instructions for carrying out this focus group are in brackets [*]

[As participants arrive to the waiting room, gather information on participant’s age. Be discrete so that others around will not hear response.]

[Moderator – (before participants enter room) Write all ground rules on flip chart and post in a location visible to all participants.]

[Give the participants a name tag and ask them to put a nickname on the name tag. Inform the participants that this is the name that will be used during the focus group to protect their privacy.]

Please take time and read the consent forms, if you are a minor please read your assent form.

Would anyone like me to read either form aloud?

[Read aloud the consent form with everyone following along. Give time for everyone to read the consent on their own. Collect the signed forms.]

Welcome and thank you for agreeing to participate in the study. Before we get started with the focus group we would like to have you take a short survey. It should take approximately 15 minutes to complete.

[Pass out surveys and pencils]

Please let us know when you are done by turning your survey face down on the table. Please let me know if you have any questions.

We will now view the motion comic episodes in their entirety and afterward you will complete another survey which should take you 15-minutes to complete.

[Show the motion comic episodes]

[Moderator: Read the introduction.]

Introduction

Welcome again and thank you very much for agreeing to participate in this focus group. My name is ________, and my role is to guide the discussion tonight/today. I would like to hear your frank and honest opinions about the topics we discuss today. There are no right or wrong answers to the questions I’m going to ask. So please just relax and enjoy the discussion.

You all have been invited to participate because we need your help in developing an innovative and exciting HIV/STD health communication intervention, a motion comic, for people in your age group. During our discussion we will be discussing issues concerning HIV/STD and a few other related topics.

The purpose of our discussion today is to help us quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate an HIV/STD focused motion comic that we have developed from feedback from people like you. We will use the information from this focus group as well as the surveys you will complete before and after viewing the motion comic episodes to help us determine if we need to make any changes to the episodes. Some of the changes we may make include storylines, look and sound (characters) and prevention messages included in this HIV/STD focused motion comic.

Before we get started on our discussion, there are just a few things I’d like to point out. We are audio taping this session so we can listen to what you have to say and not worry about taking notes. The tapes will help us in writing our reports and are used for this purpose only. Everything you have to say will be kept secure and anything that is reported will be done without names or identifiers. In other words, no one who reads the final report will know or be able to figure out that any of you participated in this study. Also, please remember that you can choose not to respond to a question at any time and that your participation in this study is completely voluntary.

Does anyone have any questions?

[Moderator: Read the ground rules as posted in the room.]

Ground Rules

There are also a few ground rules that I would like us to adopt for our discussion:

• You have been asked here to offer your views and opinions.

  • We know that each of you might have different views about this topic. You might hear opinions that you do not agree with, and if this happens, we ask that you respectfully listen and then share your opinion.

• To the extent the law allows, the focus group facilitators will keep all comments secure.

• We ask that you not share comments you hear today with anyone outside this room. You should know that there is the possibility that a focus group participant may not honor this request.

• Everyone’s input is important; I may call on you if you are being quiet.

• Avoid side conversations.

• Let one person speak at a time.

• I may need to cut a discussion short to get through the whole guide.

• Please turn off all cell phones and electronic devices!

• There are no right or wrong answers.

• All answers will be kept secure and anonymous, so feel free to speak your mind.

• Respect one another at all times.

• It’s okay to disagree.

• As a way to help us please state whatever name you are using today whenever you make a comment.

Do you have any questions before we begin?

If there are no more questions, I am going to turn start recording now.

[Moderator: Begin session with warm up.]

Let’s begin by finding out a little bit about each of you. Please tell us your:

♦ Name i.e. the name you want to use today,

♦ Favorite TV show, and

♦ Favorite type of music

Outcomes

Thinking about what you have just seen……

• What prevention messages stood out from the motion comic?

• Are there any changes you would suggest to the creators to make it appeal more to people like yourself?

• Do you think HIV/health information in this format (motion comic) is believable?

• What would make the message/information more believable?

Storyline

• What do you think about the storyline?

Probes: Is it realistic?

• Does the motion comic use the appropriate tone in the story telling?

Probe: Is the tone too comedic? Too Serious/dramatic? Balanced?

• Do you think the suggested storylines will influence knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and intentions of people like yourself?

Probe: Why or Why not?

• Do you think the suggested storylines will influence the attitudes about HIV/STD of people like yourself?

Probe: Why or Why not?

• Do you think the suggested storylines will influence the beliefs about HIV/STD of people like yourself?

Probe: Why or Why not?

• Do you think the suggested storylines will change the increase the intentions of people like yourself to engage in protective behaviors against HIV/STD?

Probe: Why or Why not?

Feasibility and Acceptance

• Would you like to see more episodes of this motion comic series?

Probe: Why or Why not?

• Would you tell others about the motion comic that you just viewed?

Probe: Why or Why not?

• How would you inform others about what you have just seen?

Probe: word of mouth, Facebook, text message, myspace, scrib’d, twitter, blog

• Would you recommend this motion comic to your friends or others like you?

Look and Tone

• What do you think about the design/look of the motion comic?

Probe: What do you like about it?

Probe: What do you not like about it?

• What do you think about the overall content of the motion comic?

Probes: What parts of the motion comic do you think people your age would find entertaining?

• Are there any changes that you would suggest on the way the motion comic looks?

• Are the sound effects adequate?

• Is the music appropriate?

If not, how should the music be changed?

• Is the music distracting?

Probe: Is the music too loud? Or too soft?

• Do you think the episodes are the appropriate length?

Character Development

• What do you think about the characters presented in the motion comic?

Probes: Would people your age identify with these characters?

• What are your thoughts about characters #1(name)- #9(name)?

• Why do you like character #1(name)- #9(name)?

• What do you dislike about character #1(name)- #9(name)?

Distribution

• What are the acceptable means of distribution for this content?

Probe: pod cast, website, mobile phone

• What are unacceptable means of distribution for this content?

Thank you for your time and sharing your thoughts with us, this concludes our group for today.