ODPHP Dietary Guidelines Formative Research

Attachment C: Media Professional Interview Protocol

Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015:

In-depth Interviews with Media Professionals

OMB Control Number: 0990-0281

December 8, 2014

Table of Contents

Moderator’s Guide 1

Participant Recruitment Materials 5

Participant Information Sheet 6

Moderator’s Guide

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0990-0281. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 60 minutes per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection. If you have comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, OS/OCIO/PRA, 200 Independence Ave., S.W., Suite 336-E, Washington D.C. 20201, Attention: PRA Reports Clearance Officer

Welcome and Opening Remarks (5 minutes)

Thank you for joining us today. My name is _______ and we also have [name others listening] listening and taking notes for this session. We are conducting this interview on behalf of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

HHS, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), will release the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015 later this year. I’ll refer to this as DGA 2015 for the rest of this interview. Your feedback will help us to develop DGA 2015 messages and materials that professionals like you find relevant and valuable, and thus are more likely to adopt in your work.

Before we begin, I would like to make a few things clear and explain how this discussion will work.

• We are not trying to sell or promote any product or service to you.

• There are no right or wrong answers — we just want your personal opinion and perspective.

• This interview should take no more than 1 hour. I want to be sure not to keep you much longer than that, so I may occasionally interrupt you to move on to the next question.

• [Name] on the phone will be taking notes. This will help us make sure we capture your suggestions and ideas accurately.

• Any comments you make during this discussion will not be associated with your name in the final report.

What questions do you have?

If you have a cell phone, please put it on silent or vibrate at this time.

Your participation in this discussion is voluntary. You may stop the interview at any time. Your name will NOT be used in any report. We are only recording the session today to be sure that we get your opinions and ideas accurately.

Do you agree to participate?

[If yes, continue]

Do you have any other questions before we get started?

Warm-Up

We’re going to start with a few warm-up questions.

1. What’s your current position or role?

   1. What is the primary focus of your work?

   2. About how much time do you spend in a week writing or reporting on nutrition or other health and wellness topics? Please explain.

2. What specific nutrition-related topics are most important in the work you do? Why?

3. Now I'm going to read a list of topics and ask you how important each is to the work that you do. (Note: Moderator will define each of these briefly and ask the participant how important the topic is to their work and why.)

   1. Dietary behavior change (i.e., increasing healthy eating among consumers)

   2. Dietary patterns

   3. Food sustainability and safety (i.e., the extent to which existing food sources, such as seafood, will continue to be available and safe for consumption)

   4. Food environments (e.g., neighborhood grocery stores, schools, restaurants, and worksites)

   5. Relationship between diet and chronic disease or health outcomes

   6. Potentially harmful food interactions (e.g., caffeine and alcohol, supplement-medication interactions)

Use of DGA and Other Nutrition Recommendations

Next we’d like to talk about how you use the DGA and other nutrition recommendations in your work.

4. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about the DGA?

5. How often do you reference or use the DGA, including MyPlate and other related resources?
   
   

6. What other evidence-based nutrition recommendations (if any) do you use or pay attention to in your work?

   1. How are they different from the DGA?

   2. What do you like about these recommendations and any related products? What do you dislike? Why?

Communicating Nutrition Information to the Public

For our next series of questions, we’re interested in your experiences communicating nutrition information to the public.

7. In your opinion, what nutrition-related topics do your readers or audience care the most about right now? What trends have you noticed?

1. What stories get the most traction that relate to nutrition or diet?

8. In your opinion, what nutrition-related topics are easiest to explain? In what way?

9. What nutrition topics are more difficult to explain? In what way?

10. What misconceptions about nutrition and diet come up the most with your viewers/readership?
    
    

11. What do you think are the biggest challenges/barriers for communicating evidence-based nutrition information to the public? Why?

Dissemination

Now, we’d like to hear what organizations, sources, sites, or channels help you stay informed.

12. What sources do you trust when you’re looking for nutrition or other health and wellness information?

13. Where do you usually go to get information on new research or guidance on nutrition?

1. What do you find most useful about the sources you use?

2. What do you find least useful about those sources?

14. What professional organizations do you rely on for nutrition guidance or updates? Why do you trust these organizations?

15. What websites do you frequent that are central to your work?

1. What do you like about these sites?

16. How do you use social media to stay up-to-date on nutrition recommendations or share information with colleagues?

17. Are there other channels that you use frequently in your work to stay up to date on nutrition-related topics?

Format

Next, we have a few questions about what formats work best for you.

18. Is there a format in which you’d prefer to receive information on nutrition guidelines or recommendations? [Prompt: full printout, online PDF, at-a-glance or executive summary, at-a-glance graphic, eZine (digital interactive magazine), website, app for phone or tablet, podcasts, videos]
    
    

19. On what devices or platforms would you prefer to view nutrition-related information? [Prompt: desktop or laptop computer, tablet, smartphone, personal PDA]

20. Do you regularly use a tablet either personally or in your work?

1. What do you typically use your tablet for?

2. How likely would you be to access nutrition guidelines or information with a tablet? Please explain.

Strategy for 2015

Our last set of questions relates to DGA 2015.

21. What types of support or resources would help you communicate information included in the DGA 2015?

1. What types of tools or resources would be helpful to your readers in understanding nutrition guidelines?

22. What opportunities should HHS and USDA take advantage of to promote and communicate the DGA 2015?

2. What strategies would help keep the Dietary Guidelines in the news cycle?

23. What do you see as your role (if any) in helping to promote or communicate the new guidelines?

Thank You and Closing

24. Do you have any additional feedback on how to make materials for the upcoming DGA 2015 more useful to you and your work?

Thank you for sharing your ideas with us. Your input will help us create materials that are most useful to communicate and implement the DGA 2015.

Participant Recruitment Materials

Email to potential participants

Dear [participant/contact name],

CommunicateHealth is working closely with the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) within the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to develop materials and messages that will help you and other professionals understand and use the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015 (DGA 2015).

We’d like to get your feedback so that we can make sure the DGA 2015 materials are relevant to you and your work. If you choose to participate and are eligible, you’ll receive $100 for your time. The interview will last approximately 1 hour and will be conducted over the phone.

Please let me know if you are interested or know of any other [audience type] who would like to participate. Your feedback will be much appreciated!

If you have any questions, please feel free to call Katrina Lanahan at 413-582-0425.

Thank you for your help!

[Signature]

Participant Information Sheet

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0990-0281. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 60 minutes per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection. If you have comments concerning the accuracy of the time estimate(s) or suggestions for improving this form, please write to: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, OS/OCIO/PRA, 200 Independence Ave., S.W., Suite 336-E, Washington D.C. 20201, Attention: PRA Reports Clearance Officer

On this page, you will find information about this project. Please read it and feel free to ask us any questions you may have.

Who is working on this project?

This project is being coordinated by CommunicateHealth, a health communication consulting firm, on behalf of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

What is the goal of this project?

We are working to make sure that materials developed for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015 (DGA 2015) are relevant and useful for professionals like you. Your feedback will help us develop recommendations on how to ensure DGA 2015 materials are most useful to you and your work.

How can I help?

We are interested in learning from your experiences. Your feedback in this interview will help us create materials that truly meet the needs of professionals and other future users. 

Do I have to participate in this project?

No. It is your choice whether to participate or not. You can stop at any time, and you don’t have to answer any questions you don’t want to answer. If you don’t want to participate or decide to stop, that’s okay.

How will you protect my privacy?

We will keep your identity and all of your personal information confidential — that means we will not share it with ODPHP or anyone outside of our project staff. We will not collect or store any of your personal information. Also, your responses will not be linked with your name.

For more information:

If you have questions about the project, contact the Senior Health Communication Specialist, Katrina Lanahan, MPH, at [email protected], (413) 582-0425.