Atmt WWW Initial Parent Web Survey Invitation Cover Letter_11-10-11

Attachment WWW:

Initial Parent Web Survey Invitation Cover Letter

Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships™ Initiative

Division of Violence Prevention

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

<Date, via email or hard copy>

Dear <Parent/Guardian>:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is conducting a research project. It is called “Evaluation of CDC’s Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships™ Initiative.” Your middle school has partnered with the local health department and is conducting one of two teen dating violence prevention programs. The purpose of this study is to help us learn more about teenagers’ relationships with other people, including people they date or hang out with, and how parents/guardians manage their own relationships. This will help us know how different programs in your school and your community are working. You may have seen information about this study in your school newsletter or a flyer in your child’s backpack.

The purpose of this study is to see how these programs work. You were selected to participate in this study because your child is currently enrolled at <insert middle school name> and in the teen dating violence prevention evaluation study. Some parents have more than one child at this school. If that is the case, we are contacting you regarding your oldest middle school child.

Your child may or may not be in the random sample to fill out surveys related to this project at school, but we would also like to learn parents’ perspectives during about teen relationships. Some parents at each school have been randomly selected to fill out surveys. On behalf of CDC, NORC at the University of Chicago is inviting you or another parent or guardian in your home to fill out a survey in the fall and the spring each year that your child is in middle school. You do not have to participate, but your participation will be a contribution to research that may benefit students in the future.

The survey is available to you either on the internet or as a paper document. You can choose whichever way you prefer to answer the survey (paper or online). If you choose to fill in a web survey, the survey itself will be available at that link online and will take about 30-40 minutes to complete. At any time, you can choose to stop answering the questions online. The secure link below will connect you to a web page with more information and the survey itself.

<web link>

If you have any questions about this study, you may contact <contact person and phone and email>. For additional information regarding the rights of human participants in research, you may contact <IRB contact>.

Sincerely,

Bruce G. Taylor, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator, NORC Evaluation Contract

CDC’s Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships™ Initiative

Parent name:

Parent ID number:

School ID number:

Date: