Dietary Guidelines for Americans Information Needs Formative Research

____________________________________________________________________________

DATE: January 15, 2015

TO: Sherrette Funn, Office of the Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

FROM: Sandy Hilfiker, CommunicateHealth, Inc., on behalf of Amber Mosher, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

RE: Request for Clearance of Communication Research regarding OMB No. 0990-0281. ODPHP Dietary Guidelines for Americans Information Needs Formative Research

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Statement of Need

The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) is responsible for developing the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2015 (DGA 2015) in collaboration with the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). DGA is the cornerstone of all federal nutrition policy, education, outreach, and food assistance programs.

To ensure the messaging, content, products, and tools for DGA 2015 meet the needs of intended audiences ODPHP wants to assess their needs and preferences. The goal is to explore information needs and audience preferences for channels, products, and preliminary message concepts.

In order to obtain this feedback, ODPHP will conduct a 20-minute web-based survey and a set of 1-hour in-depth interviews.

Specifically, ODPHP wants to learn:

1. What are the segments and related characteristics of each DGA target audience?

2. What’s the best format for delivering DGA 2015 information to each target audience?

3. What’s the best strategy for disseminating DGA 2015 products to each audience?

Intended Use of Information

The web-based survey and in-depth interviews are important parts of the formative research process. ODPHP will explore audience characteristics, information needs, preferred content formats, traditional and social media use, other preferred channels, and potential products. These user research activities will help ODPHP establish an audience segmentation plan that will inform message and design concept development for materials for each key DGA audience.

ODPHP will also use the survey and interview findings to develop personas — composite characters that represent our target audiences — that will serve as helpful guides for creating the professional and consumer message strategies, strategic communication plan, digital and social media engagement strategy, and visual concept.

Description of Research Participants

Web-based Survey Respondents

ODPHP will recruit 80 participants from the following audiences:

• Program planners and evaluators (n=40)

• Point of care professionals (n=40)

Program planners, evaluators, and implementers are public health professionals within government, corporations, and academic institutions who primarily operate at the state and local levels. This audience includes:

• Staff in state and local health departments

• Researchers in academic institutions

• Staff representing corporate wellness and disease prevention programs

• Representatives from school, hospital, and prison systems

• Point of care professionals work one-on-one with consumers to improve diet and health through medical care, education, and counseling. This audience includes:

• Registered dietitians

• Educators of dietitians

• Health educators

• Diet and activity counselors

• Primary care providers

In-depth Interview Participants

ODPHP will recruit 12 participants from the following audiences:

• Media and communication professionals (n=6)

• Food and beverage industry professionals (n=6)

Media and communication professionals report and curate information on nutrition and health. This audience includes:

• Diet and nutrition bloggers

• Reporters who focus on health and science topics

• Congressional Record daily digest writers and Hill bloggers

Food and beverage industry professionals process, market, sell, and distribute food and beverages. This audience includes:

• Agriculture businesses

• Food processing corporations

• Food and beverage advertising, public relations, packaging agencies

• Commodity boards and nutrition councils (e.g., Whole Grains Council, IFIC)

• Food science and technology researchers

Use of Information Technology to Reduce Participant Burden

ODPHP will use the online survey platform, Qualtrics, to conduct surveys and reduce respondent burden. Survey invitations and corresponding reminders will be sent via email. Consent, screening questions, and the survey will be conducted online.

In-depth interviews will be conducted remotely over the phone to reduce participant burden. Participants will be recruited through an email invitation.

Data Collection Procedures

To conduct this user research, ODPHP plans to:

• Program and distribute a web-based survey using Qualtrics online survey software, a secure and easy-to-use survey platform

• Conduct interviews remotely over the phone

No personally identifiable information will be collected for either the survey or interviews.

See attachment A for the web-based survey research instrument including consent language, screening questions, instructions, and questionnaire.

See attachments B and C for the in-depth interview research instruments including consent language, moderator’s guides, and questions.

Sampling

Survey and interview participants will be drawn from convenience samples.

Recruitment

To recruit respondents for the interviews and online survey, ODPHP will reach out to existing stakeholder lists and contacts and/or large listservs at relevant professional organizations such as the American Public Health Association (APHA), Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), and Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior (SNEB).

Note: Survey participants will answer up to 2 screening questions at the beginning of the survey to ensure they are members of the target audiences described above. Those who do not meet the screening criteria will be not be able to complete the survey.

ODPHP will not offer incentives to eligible participants who complete the online survey (program planners/evaluators and point of care professionals).

ODPHP will offer $40 to eligible interview participants (media and communication professionals as well as food and beverage industry professionals). Based on previous experience, incentive amounts should be equivalent to the amount that individuals would be compensated for performing their regular job duties during the interview time period. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the hourly rate for a media professional is $59.92, and an industry professional is $47.78¹. Setting participant incentives at a minimum of $40 would offset any lost income and minimize the number of participants who schedule the interview but fail to participate in or complete the interview.

Confidentiality

ODPHP will not collect any personally identifiable information for either the survey or interviews. Survey and interview instructions include information about confidentiality for respondents. Interview participants will also receive a participant information sheet detailing this information. Respondents will also be instructed that they can terminate their participation at any time.

Data Collection

The online survey will address the following topics:

• Professional role, setting, and focus of work

• Use of DGA and other nutrition recommendations

• Experiences in communicating nutrition information to the public

• Dissemination strategies, such as organizations, sources, sites, or channels

• Preferred formats

• Demographic information (optional)

The in-depth interviews will address the following topics:

• Professional role, setting, and focus of work

• Use of DGA and other nutrition recommendations

• Experiences in communicating nutrition information to the public

• Dissemination strategies, such as organizations, sources, sites, or channels

• Preferred formats

• Strategies for promoting and communicating DGA 2015

Justification for Proposed Data Collection Methodology

Interviews are the most efficient way to collect in-depth feedback on audience understanding and use of DGA, and information needs and preferences. An online survey is the most efficient way to broadly assess audience characteristics, attitudes, information needs and preferences.

Statistical Methods

No statistical methods will be employed for either the survey or interviews. Survey data analysis will only involve descriptive statistics. Interview responses will be analyzed for themes.

Estimated Response Burden

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Web-based survey respondents: Private Sector/State, Local or Tribal Governments/Federal Government	80	20 minutes	26.7 hours
Media in-depth interviews: Private Sector/State, Local or Tribal Governments/Federal Government	6	60 minutes	6 hours
Food industry in-depth interviews: Private Sector/State, Local or Tribal Governments/Federal Government	6	60 minutes	6 hours
Totals	92		38.7 hours

The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $27,580

Attachments

[IN SEPARATE FILES]

• Attachment A: Web-based survey research instrument including consent language, screening questions, instructions, and questionnaire (for both program planner and point of care professional audiences)

• Attachment B: Media and communication professional in-depth interview research instrument including consent language, moderator’s guides, and questions
  
  

• Attachment C: Food and beverage industry professional in-depth interview research instrument including consent language, moderator’s guides, and questions

1 http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#00-0000