OMB Clearance Request Fast Track

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 2127-0682)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Recent Hispanic Immigrant Community Seat Belt Web-Based Tool-Kit Development Focus Groups

PURPOSE:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is developing a web-based tool-kit to support its efforts in reaching the Hispanic population with an emphasis on newly arrived Hispanic immigrants (having arrived to the country within the last five years). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, traffic crashes are the leading cause of death in the United States among Hispanics under age 34¹. NHTSA recognizes the importance of increasing seat belt use in this segment of the population. The Hispanic population is a dynamic, complicated group to address, due to the large number of Hispanics born and raised in the U.S., combined with the large number of Hispanic immigrants. Their beliefs, attitudes, behaviors and habits have been formed in many different nations, each with distinct cultural, religious and political practices and influences. As a result, a “one size fits all” approach cannot be used to spur improvements in their traffic safety behaviors. Due to the complexity and rapid growth of the Hispanic immigrant population in the United States, it is necessary to design and implement a comprehensive strategy that will directly target this population at high risk for death or injury due to non-seat belt use.

A web-based tool-kit will be developed as part of this comprehensive strategy. The tool-kit will be targeted to community-based groups and organizations that work with the Hispanic immigrant population. The tool-kit will address the following areas: community problem identification, strategies and implementation, development of effective community messages, self-sufficiency, law enforcement and the incorporation of cultural heritage. Focus groups have been chosen as a means to reach the recent Hispanic immigrant population concerning their knowledge and beliefs about seat belt use in order to determine how to structure the tool-kit.

Two series of focus groups will be conducted: one to obtain input from the community on their knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes in order to develop the tool-kit and second to obtain feedback on the web-based tool-kit. There will be three sets of focus groups within the first series of focus groups: community participants, community service delivery organizations, and law enforcement. These groups were selected in order to obtain input from the primary target audience (i.e., community participants) and from potential users of the tool-kit (i.e., community service delivery organizations). Law enforcement is included as law enforcement is an important component of NHTSA’s seat belt program and it is important to identify ways in which the Hispanic community and law enforcement can work together to increase traffic safety in general and seat belt use in particular. The second series of focus groups will obtain feedback on the tool-kit from the target audience – community participants. Moderator’s guides and screening guides have been developed for each set of these focus groups that comprise each of the two series of focus groups. Focus groups will be conducted among newly arrived (in the U.S. for 5 years or less) and acculturated (in the U.S. for more than 5 years) participants. (For reference, the moderator’s guides as well as the screening guides are attached to this Clearance Request).

For tool-kits such as these, NHTSA’s experience has shown that focus groups are a meaningful, useful and cost-effective way to gather the insights needed for guiding decision-making on what to include in the tool-kit and how to structure the tool-kit.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

(NOTE: Scripts for the recruitment screeners are included with this Clearance Request).

Respondents from the community will reflect the characteristics of people who will comprise the target audience for the web-based tool-kit. Specifically recruit 12 participants anticipating that 8-10 will attend. Attempt to recruit:

• Male and female ages 18-40

• Recently Arrived (Hispanic/Latino) in the United States (that is 5 years or less.)

• Acculturated Participants (more than 5 years)

• Drivers or passengers who operate or ride in a passenger car, van, SUV or pickup truck

• Sometimes do not wear their seatbelts

• Not employed in certain specific types of jobs/occupations considered by NHTSA to bias opinions and comments

Participants from the community service delivery organizations will be representatives of organizations such as non-profit groups, health clinics, churches/religious organizations and traffic safety organizations that work with, or deliver services to, the Hispanic community. Their input is important in designing how to best present and deliver the information to be included in the tool-kit.

The groups will be conducted in Miami, Florida, (specifically among Little Havana and Hialeah residents); and Langley Park and Riverdale Park (Prince Georges County and Montgomery County), Maryland. According to the US Census, the city of Miami has one of the highest percentages of foreign born citizens among the 100 largest cities in the nation. The Little Havana region is composed principally of poor, newly-arrived immigrants from Central America and the Caribbean. This area of Miami-Dade has the region’s lowest educational level. The Hialeah area is where more acculturated Hispanics live.

Both newly arrived immigrants and acculturated immigrants reside in Langley Park, Maryland. However, the newly arrived immigrants reside in Prince Georges County within Langley Park, and the acculturated Hispanics are found in Montgomery County within Langley Park. Hispanics represent about 76% of the population of Langley Park; of that percentage, 71% are from Central America and 8% are of Mexican origin. Newly arrived and acculturated participants will be identified through the screener. Riverdale Park is located in Prince Georges County, Maryland. Newly arrived Hispanic immigrants represent approximately 50% of the total population; of that 50% are of Mexican origin and 35% are of Central American origin. The viewpoints in these two communities are expected to lend added substantiation and value to the development of the web-based tool-kit. The education level of the target population in both counties is lower than both state and national averages.

After the development of the tool-kit, each site will test the tool-kit by delivering training to approximately 20 community members of the target group (males and females ages 18-40 years). A second set of community member focus groups will be conducted to obtain feedback on the tool-kit. The participants in this second set of focus groups will be drawn from the individuals who attended the training sessions. This will allow us to obtain feedback on the tool-kit training, as well as ascertain whether traffic safety behavior was influenced in any way following the training.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[√] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Alexandra Holliday/Maria Vegega

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [√] Yes [ ] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [√] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No (N/A)

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [√ ] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Community members for first series of focus groups --- recruited and fully-participating respondents; for four focus groups, in two cities maximum of 9 respondents to be seated for discussions; 8 total groups to be conducted.	72	90 minutes (10 minutes for recruiting time; + 80 minutes for focus group)	108 hrs.
Community members for first series of focus groups --- recruited individuals either (1) released prior to commencement of focus groups, or (2) failing to show up at appointed time; (for each group, 12 individuals will be recruited, in anticipation of 9 showing)	24	10 minutes (for recruiting time)	4 hrs.
Community service delivery organization representatives for first series of focus groups --- recruited and fully-participating respondents; for each group, in two cities maximum of 9 respondents to be seated for discussions; 4 total groups to be conducted.	36	90 minutes (10 minutes for recruiting time; + 80 minutes for focus group)	54 hrs.
Community service delivery organization representatives for first series of focus groups --- recruited individuals either (1) released prior to commencement of focus groups, or (2) failing to show up at appointed time; (for each group, 12 individuals will be recruited, in anticipation of 9 showing)	12	10 minutes (for recruiting time)	2 hrs.
Individuals from Law Enforcement for first series of focus groups --- recruited and fully-participating respondents; for each group, in two cities maximum of 6 respondents to be seated for discussions; 2 total groups to be conducted.	12	90 minutes (10 minutes for recruiting time; + 80 minutes for focus group)	18 hrs.
Individuals from Law Enforcement for first series of focus groups --- recruited individuals either (1) released prior to commencement of focus groups, or (2) failing to show up at appointed time; (for each group, 12 individuals will be recruited, in anticipation of 6 showing)	12	10 minutes (for recruiting time)	2 hrs.
Community members for second series of focus groups --- recruited and fully-participating respondents; for four focus groups, in two cities maximum of 9 respondents to be seated for discussions; 4 total groups to be conducted.	36	90 minutes (10 minutes for recruiting time; + 80 minutes for focus group)	54 hrs.
Community members for second series of focus groups --- recruited individuals either (1) released prior to commencement of focus groups, or (2) failing to show up at appointed time; (for each group, 12 individuals will be recruited, in anticipation of 9 showing)	12	10 minutes (for recruiting time)	2 hrs.
Totals	216		244 hrs.

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $52,000.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [√] Yes [] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

The Grantee’s (the National Latino Children’s Institute (NLCI)) partner organizations have client lists and we will be screening for community participants for the first series of focus groups using the client lists. NLCI will work with its partner organizations that have client lists to take on the responsibility of recruiting the focus group participants. Focus group community participants will be recruited by:

• Utilizing partner organization’s client list.

• Conducting screenings via telephone, to identify eligible participants.

Community participants for the second series of focus groups to obtain feedback on the tool-kit will be recruited from individuals who participated in the training sessions conducted at each site. Participants in these training sessions reflect the target group, i.e., either recently arrived or acculturated male or female Hispanics, between the ages of 18 and 40, who drive or ride in personal motor vehicles, but do not always use seat belts.

Representatives from the community service delivery organizations will be recruited through personal contacts with these organizations. Both the partner organizations at the sites and representatives from NLCI will identify the contacts and approach them about participating in the focus/discussion groups.

Representatives from law enforcement will be recruited through personal contacts with law enforcement departments and organizations in the communities participating in this study.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[√] Telephone -- for recruiting community respondents and representatives from community service delivery organizations

[√] In-person -- for recruiting representatives from law enforcement and for data collection in focus group settings

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [√] Yes [ ] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

Included with this Request are scripts for the moderator’s guide, along with the screeners that will be used to identify participants for the focus groups. As four different types of focus groups will be conducted, there are four screeners and four moderator’s guides.

1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2005.

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