Best Practices Evaluation: Telephone Interview Guide

Attachment A: Telephone Interview Guide

Form Approved

OMB No. 0920-0879

Expiration Date 03/31/2018

Date of Interview:	MM/DD/YYYY
Interviewer:
State or Organization:
U.S. Census Bureau Location (check one):	☐West ☐Midwest ☐South ☐Northeast
Time in Position:	________ year(s)

Introduction

Thank you for taking the time to participate in a telephone interview regarding the Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs 2014 guide. The information collected from this interview will be used to inform changes and enhancements to the next edition of Best Practices so as to increase the utility of the guide for establishing comprehensive tobacco control programs, and the planning and implementation of evidence-based tobacco control strategies within state tobacco control programs.

The interview is expected to take no longer than 70 minutes. Your participation in this interview is completely voluntary. You may choose to skip questions or stop the interview at any time and it will not in any way impact the funding or technical assistance you receive from CDC. With your permission, we would like to record this interview for transcription purposes. All information will be kept secure and any identifiable information will be removed when results are aggregated for analysis.

During the interview, you’ll be asked to answer two kinds of questions. In some cases, you’ll be asked to answer in your own words. In other cases, you will be given a list of answers and asked to choose the one that fits best. If at any time during the interview you are not clear about what we’re asking, be sure to let me know. It’s important that you think carefully about each question and answer it based on your own knowledge and experience.

Do you have any questions or concerns before we start the interview?

CDC estimates the average public reporting burden for this collection of information as 70 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data/information sources, gathering and maintaining the data/information needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing burden to CDC/ATSDR Information Collection Review Office, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS D-74, Atlanta, Georgia 30333; ATTN: PRA (0920-0879).

I. Background:

To start:

1. How many years has your Tobacco Control Program (TCP) been in existence?

☐ <10 years

☐ 10-20 years

☐ 21-30 years

☐ 30+ years

2. Does your state tobacco program use Best Practices to plan and implement your TCP?

☐ Yes (If yes, continue to 3)

☐ No (If no, continue to 2A and then close interview)

2A) Which of the following categories describes why you do not use Best Practices to maintain your TCP (select all that apply):

☐ BP is not useful

☐ BP is not practical

☐ The use of BP is discouraged (See Required PROBE)

☐ The use of BP is prevented in our tobacco control program (See Required PROBE)

☐ There is no opportunity to use BP in our tobacco control program

☐ Our tobacco control program has not needed to use BP

☐ Our tobacco control program is not comfortable using BP

☐ Our tobacco control program have other higher priority sources that we use besides BP (specify)

☐ Other (specify)

END for 2A

II. Components of the Best Practices Guide

The following questions are going to ask you about the utility of each of the five components of the Best Practices Guide. Best Practices consists of five sections: State and Community Interventions, Mass-Reach Health Communication Interventions, Cessation Interventions, Surveillance and Evaluation, and Infrastructure Management and Administration.

3. Please indicate the level of applicability of each of the BP components. The term “applicable” refers to how relevant and useful the content in each of the five components is in helping you plan and implement your tobacco control program.

Component	Not applicable at all	Slightly applicable	Somewhat applicable	Vey applicable	Extremely Applicable
State and Community Health Interventions
Mass-Reach Health Communications
Cessation Interventions
Surveillance and Evaluation
Infrastructure, Administration and Management

4) Can you tell me more about what aspects of BP are the most applicable to your TCP work?

Required Probe 4a: What has been the most useful? What has been the least useful?

5) How do you use the information from BP to plan and implement your state TCP? Please provide examples.

Required Probe: 5a: Can you share some examples of how using the BP recommendations has had an impact on your TCP?

6) What information would you have liked to see in the guide that would have helped you plan and implement your TCP? (E.g.,What information may be missing that would be useful to your program?)

7) Now we are going to discuss the feasibility of implementing the BP recommendations. Please indicate the feasibility of implementing the recommendations in each of the components. The term “feasibility” refers to how realistic and achievable implementing the BP recommendations are for your state’s TCP.

Component	Not feasible at all	Slightly feasible	Somewhat feasible	Very feasible	Extremely feasible
State and Community Health Interventions
Mass-Reach Health Communicaton Interventions
Cessation Interventions
Surveillance and Evaluation
Infrastructure, Administration and Management

8) Can you tell me more about the feasibility of implementing the BP recommendations?

Required Probe 8a: What challenges have you had with implementing the recommendations?

III. Disparities

The following questions are going to ask you about guidance on tobacco-related disparities.

9) Guidance on strategies for eliminating tobacco-related disparities is interwoven in the first three components of BP (State and Community Health Interventions, Mass Reach Health Communication Interventions, and Cessation Interventions). How applicable did you find this information in helping your program plan and implement TCP work to identify and eliminate tobacco-related disparities?

☐ Not applicable at all

☐ Slightly applicable

☐ Somewhat applicable

☐ Very applicable

☐ Extremely applicable

10) What are your thoughts about the type of information presented and the manner in which it is presented in the guide? What would you like to see different to help plan and implement your state TCP’s tobacco-related disparities work?

IV. Funding

The following questions pertain to state funding recommendations outlined in sections B and C of the Best Practices-2014 guide. The following questions on funding focus on collecting information to inform the funding sections on the next iteration of Best Practices. Responses from this section will be used to assess considerations and potential changes to the funding guidelines and factors that should be taken into account to increase the utility of the funding recommendations in the guide. These recommended levels of funding in this guide reflect the annual investment that each state can make to fund and sustain a comprehensive tobacco control program.

11) Did your actual funding decrease, increase, or remain the same from your state’s previous fiscal year?

☐Decrease (Go to question 14)
☐Remained about the same

☐Increase (Go to question 12)

For those who experienced an INCREASE

12) What factors led to an increase in your state TCP’s funding for tobacco control and prevention?

13) To what extent did the BP funding recommendations help your state justify or garner support to increase your state TCP’s funding for tobacco control and prevention?

☐No influence at all

☐Slightly influenced

☐Somewhat influenced

☐Very much influenced

☐Strongly influenced

Required probe 13a: Please explain or provide examples.

For those who experienced a DECREASE

14) What factors led to a decrease in your state TCP’s funding for tobacco control and prevention?

ALL:

15) How feasible is meeting the BP funding recommendations in your state?

☐ Not feasible at all

☐ Slightly feasible

☐ Somewhat feasible

☐ Very feasible

☐ Extremely feasible

16) To what extent have you experienced challenges with meeting Best Practices -2014 funding recommendations in sections A and B? Can you tell me more about these challenges?

17) When developing the funding guidelines for the next iteration of the Best Practices guide, what factors should be considered? What would you like to see different about the recommendations in the guide to improve their utility for your program?

18) The Best Practices-2014 guide recommends allocation of funding for the main components of a Comprehensive Tobacco Control Program based on the latest research. Can you tell me about how you make decisions about how your TCP allocates funding to the various components? How do you make decisions about how to allocate your funding? What factors do you take into consideration?

V. Frequency of Use

The next group of questions are going to ask you about using BP. The term “use” in these questions refer to reading BP, referencing BP to justify components of your TCP, referencing the BP guide to plan and implement your TCP, or using BP’s recommended funding levels to gain support for funding increases in your state.

19) So using that definition of use and thinking of the past two years:

How often do you use BP:	Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Frequently	Always
When implementing your TCP strategies?
When planning your TCP budget?
When speaking with decision-makers/policymakers on funding your state’s TCP?
To provide technical assistance to community partners and health department staff?

Required probe 19a: Can you provide an example of the context in which you have used the guide in these various scenarios?

20) During the past year, how many times would you say you referred to BP for guidance when planning and implementing you TCP work? (Estimate)

☐ 1-2

☐ 3-4

☐ 5-6

☐ 7-8

☐ 9+

21) To what extent do you agree with the following statements:

• BP is a worthwhile investment for my state’s TCP

☐ Strongly disagree

☐ Disagree

☐ Neither agree nor disagree

☐ Agree

☐ Strongly Agree

• BP is worthwhile investment for CDC

☐ Strongly disagree

☐ Disagree

☐ Neither agree nor disagree

☐ Agree

☐ Strongly Agree

The following question is going to ask you about how “critical” the guide is, or how essential it is in being able to help your state plan, implement, and reach your TCP goals. Therefore keeping this definition in mind:

22) How critical has implementing the BP recommendations been to achieving your state’s TCP objectives and goals?

☐ Not critical at all

☐ Slightly critical

☐ Somewhat critical

☐ Very critical

☐ Extremely critical

23) If CDC did not publish Best Practices, how would this affect your program’s planning and implementation of TCP work?

Required Probe 23a: What information does BP provide you that would not be able to find anywhere else?

VI. User-Friendliness

The following question is going to ask you about the “user-friendliness” of the guide, including clarity of information, format, visuals, and ease of finding information. Therefore, keeping this definition in mind:

24) Overall, which of these categories best describes how user-friendly the 2014 BP Guide is:

☐ Not user friendly at all

☐ Slightly user friendly

☐ Somewhat user friendly

☐ Very user friendly

☐ Extremely user friendly

25) What suggestions do you have for improving the current format and layout of BP?

Required Probe 25a: How clearly do you think that that information in BP is conveyed?

26) What other resources does your state tobacco control program use to inform your TCP?

LIST:

__________________________________

__________________________________

__________________________________

__________________________________

27) What other resources can CDC provide you to assist in interpreting and translating the guide’s recommendations into action:

☐ Presentation on how to use BP

☐ Webinar training on how to use BP

☐ Tools and resources that support BP

☐ Technical assistance on implementing BP recommendations

☐ Other: __________________________________

28) What suggestions for improvement do you have for ease of implementation of the guide’s recommendations?

Required Probe 28a: What suggestions do you have on how it’s been disseminated and communicated?

29) Is there anything else you would like to add about your use of the BP guide or suggestions you have to improve its utility in your state?

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