Supporting Statement B

Case Study of the Career Epidemiology Field Officer Assignments in Three State Health Departments

OSTLTS Generic Information Collection Request

OMB No. 0920-0879

Supporting Statement – Section B

Submitted: 11/21/2013

Program Official/Project Officer

Kerry Pride, DVM, MPH, DACVPM

Preventive Medicine Fellow

1400 Broadway, Rm 201

Helena, MT 59620

406-444-5980

406-600-1594

[email protected]

Section B – Data Collection Procedures

1. Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods

The respondent universe consists of 18 state and Tribal public health officials acting in their official capacity that receive direct assistance from the Career Epidemiology Field Officer (CEFO) Program. These respondents are CEFO state supervisors and key informants. Specifically, CEFOs identified eleven CEFO State Supervisors and PHEP Directors and seven CEFO State and Tribal Partners as the individuals who directly work, interact, and collaborate with the CEFO. These individuals are able to speak directly to the roles and contributions of CEFOs. In an effort to gather information on the full breadth the program responses from both supervisors and key partners are vital, leading to two different respondent universes. Therefore, the total respondent universe are composed of state epidemiologists, state public health emergency preparedness (PHEP) directors, state medical officers, state public health veterinarians, state tobacco project officer, chief administrator, bureau chiefs, and Tribal public health directors.

The respondent universe consists of state and tribal public health officials from Idaho, Montana and Wyoming health departments. Idaho, Montana and Wyoming were chosen because they are rural states with three different types of health departments and different lengths of tenure by the CEFOs. The health departments are centralized, decentralized, and hybrid with district local health departments. These state health departments will help the program gain a better understanding of the functions and state-specific factors that influence the work of CEFOs within different states that share similar public health problems. The CEFO Program desires and expects a 100 percent response rate, since respondents have been engaged in the development of the case study plan. All respondents are aware of the data collection plan and have agreed to participate in the phone interview.

Table B-1: Potential Respondent Universe

Entity	Potential Respondent	N
State and Tribal Health Departments	CEFO State Supervisors and PHEP Directors: State Epidemiologists Section Chiefs	11
	CEFO State and Tribal Partners: State Public Managers, State Veterinarian	7
Total Universe of Potential Respondents		18

2. Procedures for the Collection of Information

Data will be collected through a one-time phone interview administered to the respondent population. Participants include CEFO State Supervisors and PHEP Directors and CEFO State and Tribal Partners. These different respondent universes will decrease the burden on the respondents by ensuring only relevant questions are asked of the respondents. For example, a partner will not be able to speak to supervisory aspects of the CEFOs assignment. An email notification (see Attachment D – Email Notification) will be sent to all respondents with information on the phone interview and a link to schedule the time and date for the focus group. The link to schedule the calls will be open for 14 days, within which respondents can schedule the calls within a two month period provided. Reminders (see Attachment E – Reminder Email) will be sent on a weekly basis with the 14 day period.

The phone interviews will be conducted one time to gain a better understanding of the program’s field assignments in the field. Data will be collected and stored in qualitative software maintained by the CEFO Program Office. Some data will be transferred to Excel for conducting basic descriptive analyses and producing data charts and tables for reporting.

3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates Deal with Nonresponse

All respondents are aware of the data collection plan and have agreed to participate in the case study. Nevertheless, email notifications and reminder emails will be sent to all respondents to ensure maximum response rates. Respondents will have a 2 month period to schedule the phone interviews to allow sufficient time to plan and schedule the focus group. Higher response rates will yield more reliable information; however, no scientific inferences will be made.

4. Test of Procedures or Methods to be Undertaken

This descriptive case study will serve as a guide for future work for subsequent studies to better understand the roles and contributions of CEFOs in other jurisdictions. .

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

Kerry Pride, DVM, MPH Yessica Gomez, MPH

Preventive Medicine Fellow ORISE Fellow

CDC/OSELS/SEPDPO CDC/OPHPR/DSLR/FSB

Phone: 406-444-5980 Phone: 770-488-8809

Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS – Section B

Note: Attachments are included as separate files as instructed.

Attachment D. Email Notification

Attachment E. Reminder Email