ATSDR Supporting_Statement_B

State and Local Environmental Public Health Employees Usage of Public Health Assessments and Consultations Documents

OSTLTS Generic Information Collection Request

OMB No. 0920-0879

Supporting Statement – Section B

Submitted: January 8, 2013

Program Official/Project Officer

Hilary Oliphant, MPH

Public Health Analyst

Division of Community Health Investigations

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

4770 Buford Highway, Mailstop F-59, Atlanta, GA 303041

Office: 770.488.3973

Fax: 770.488.1542

Email: [email protected]

Section B – Data Collection Procedures

1. Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods

The Division of Community Health Investigations (DCHI) will conduct focus groups at 5 sites that received a public health assessment (PHA) or a health consultation (HC) within the past year. Each document was written for a site that had an exposure or has potential for harmful exposures to the public. The criteria for site selection is the document 1) had to be released within the past year 2) gone through a 30-day public comment period and 3) needed to have significant amount of interest in the documents release to recruit a focus group. For instance if only one or two people expressed interest with a document, a focus group would not be conducted for that particular site. Sites with medium involvement have anywhere from 10-20 interested individuals; whereas, a high involvement site would have a minimum of 21 interested individuals. We wanted to have ample feedback on the document type: two of the documents are PHAs, while three are HCs. The Division produces more health consultations primarily because health consultations are shorter. We also wanted to include a site from each of the regions, eastern, central, and western.

List of Sites

Site Name/Location/Involvement	Document Type	Region
Navy Mills - Dracut, MA – High	HC	Eastern
Midlothian Texas Area Air Quality - Midlothian, TX – Medium	HC	Central
BoRit Asbestos Groundwater Review - Ambler, PA – High	HC	Eastern
Oak Ridge Reservation Y-12 Mercury Release - Oak Ridge, TN – Medium	PHA	Central
Black Butte Mine - Cottage Grove, OR – Medium	PHA	Western

The universe of potential respondents is state/local EPH employees and officials or their designee at the 5 sites listed. Ten participants at each site is the target sample size (n=50). Of those 50 participants 40 of them are state EPH employees or officials and 10 are local EPH employees. It is anticipated that to obtain the 50 required participants more than 50 individuals will have to be contacted. Approximately 20 participants per site will be contacted to meet our goal (n=100). For the phone screener of those 100 participants to be contacted 80 are state EPH employees or officials while 20 are local EPH employees. As collecting data from a sub-set of the entire population is feasible, a sampling strategy will not be employed.

Table B-1: Potential Respondent Universe

Entity	Potential Respondent	N
State Environmental Health Department Phone Screener	Environmental Health Assessors, Toxicologists, and Officials	80
Local Environmental Health Department Phone Screener	Environmental Health Assessors, Toxicologists, and Officials	20
State Environmental Health Department Focus Group	Environmental Health Assessors, Toxicologists, and Officials	40
Local Environmental Health Department Focus Group	Environmental Health Assessors, Toxicologists, and Officials	10
Total Universe of Potential Respondents		150

2. Procedures for the Collection of Information

Potential participants will be called using the phone screener (N=100) once the package is approved. If the potential participant is recruited and agrees to participate in the focus group a confirmation email detailing date, time, and location will be sent (see Attachment L). Out of the entire population universe (N=100), 50 state/local EPH employees will be sampled. Obtaining the information from a sub-set of the entire population universe will allow the Division to understand how to improve the public health assessment and health consultation documents so they are more useful to end users. Data will be collected via two-hour focus groups. Eligible respondents include state/local environmental public health (EPH) employees or officials who are familiar with the PHA or HC document associated with the site. Five sites will be selected with 10 participants from each site (N=50). We anticipate only one focus group per site. Of the sites selected, the Division will identify recipients of the public health documents using document distribution/mailing lists. The focus groups will be facilitated by three project staff from the DCHI who are certified in professional moderation and facilitation. This method was chosen over a web-based survey to gain a better understanding of testing hard copies of multiple documents. A focus group will allow for the facilitator to get a better sense of how the PHA and HC are being received within each state. Additionally, this method will allow for the participant to express the potential barriers and successes to adopting a recommendation within their state. This information will help the Division define its role in assisting states with improving documents. The focus group data collection tool was designed to collect the minimum information necessary by a facilitator for the purposes of this project (i.e., limited to 23 questions).

The data will be collected and maintained by internal DCHI staff and is intended to occur one time. Once the information has been collected it will be analyzed for its descriptive nature using the qualitative data software NVivo. Qualitative thematic analyses will be performed on open-ended questions to compile recommendations for improving ATSDR’s technical assistance and documents.

3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates Deal with Nonresponse

Sites with medium to high involvement are part of the criteria for document selection. Sites with medium involvement have anywhere from 10-20 individuals of interest whereas a high involvement site would have a minimum of 21 individuals. This will enhance response rates so that each focus group has the maximum number of ten participants. If state/local environmental health department employees or officials cannot be contacted to participate within the first 3 attempts, then that individual will be classified as having no information available, and the next state/local employee listed on the distribution/mailing list will be contacted.

Participants recruited into the group will receive a confirmation email confirming the date, time, and location of the focus group (see Attachment L) and reminder call (see Attachment M). They will also receive descriptive information as to why the study is being conducted and that the information gathered is to simply improve the documents the Division produces. Higher response rates will yield more reliable information; however, no scientific inferences will be made.

4. Test of Procedures or Methods to be Undertaken

The focus group data collection tool and phone screener was pilot tested by four ATSDR public health professionals. Feedback from this group was used to refine questions, ensure accuracy, and establish the estimated time required to complete the focus group. It is noted, the time required to complete the data collection tool Welcome and Part 1 took an average of 8 minutes, Part 2 took 27 minutes, Part 3 took an average of 35 minutes and Part 4 and the Wrap-Up took 26 minutes. We rounded this total up to 120 minutes for our burden estimate. In the pilot test for the phone screener, the average time to complete was approximately 10-15 minutes. For the purposes of estimating burden hours, 15 minutes is used because the state/local EPH employees will be asked to verify their mailing and e-mail addresses.

5. Individuals Consulted on Statistical Aspects and Individuals Collecting and/or Analyzing Data

Hilary Oliphant, MPH

Public Health Analyst

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Division of Community Health Investigations

4770 Buford HWY, MS F-59

Atlanta, GA 30341-3717

Phone: 770-488-3793

Facsimile: 770-488-1542

Email: [email protected]

Matt Sones, MS, MPH

Evaluation Coordinator

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Division of Community Health Investigations

4770 Buford HWY, MS F-59

Atlanta, GA 30341-3717

Phone: 770-488-0731

Facsimile: 770-488-1542

Email: [email protected]

Michon, Jeter, MPA

Public Health Analyst

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

Division of Community Health Investigations

4770 Buford HWY, MS F-59

Atlanta, GA 30341-3717

Phone: 770-488-3791

Facsimile: 770-488-1542

Email: [email protected]

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS – Section B

L. Confirmation Email

M. Reminder Script