NSWP III (IC 2 of 2)

Third National Survey of WIC Participants (NSWP-III)

Capital Consulting Corporation

2M Research Services

Abt Associates Inc.

Order # AG-3198-K-15-0077

Tony Panzera, COR

June 15, 2016

Deliverable 3.2.4 Revised Data Collection Instruments
and Protocols

Deliverable 3.3.1 Revised Instructions to Respondents
and Reviewers

Appendix A6
a) Revised Former Participant Case Study Interview Guide-English

Former WIC Participant Case Study

Overview

The Former WIC Participant Case Study consists of 125 qualitative telephone interviews designed to examine the barriers and facilitators to WIC program retention. The interview also seeks to determine the reasons for termination or loss of eligibility, including problems documenting identification, residency, and income. The research team will select former participants from the previously identified sampling units of local agencies (LAs) for this qualitative study using administrative data provided by the State agencies (SAs).

Former WIC participants will be identified in two ways. First, the research team will compare the two sequential periods of the redemption/certification data obtained for the Certification Survey. Participants redeeming in one period who are eligible for benefits the next period, but are not associated with redemptions in the second period, will be targeted for the survey. Second, management information systems (MISs) in some of the selected States will be able to identify former participants who were terminated before the end of their certification period; these individuals will also be targeted for the survey. As this is a case study, the research team is not concerned with obtaining a nationally representative sample of former participants, so a mix of methods for identifying potential respondents is acceptable. Consequently, this sample is best described as a convenience sample and therefore does not exemplify the same standards of rigor required of representative samples. Assuming the samples exist in sufficient quantities, the research team will seek to survey approximately 55–70 people through each of these two methods for identifying potential respondents. These individuals will be contacted by phone for a semi-structured interview to collect information to assess barriers to retention and seek recommendations for improving retention rates. The Former Participant Case Study Interview Guide was created by incorporating and modifying questions from the Minnesota Department of Health WIC Program study, “Women, Infants, and Children (WIC): Awareness, Experience, and Access.”

Protocol

Qualitative researchers from the research team will conduct semi-structured telephone interviews with former WIC participants who are not active, but still appear to be eligible.

The Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) system will rotate the calling sequence over time of day and day of week. Experience suggests that evening shifts from Sunday through Friday and afternoon shifts from Monday through Saturday are most productive, but the research team plans to experiment with some morning shifts for this population. For all callbacks, the interviewer will take steps to ensure that the correct contact is on the phone. Phone numbers that do not result in a response after five attempts over 2 weeks will be discarded. Identification and surveys of former participants will proceed until the research team reaches 125 respondents.

The telephone interview will last from 20 to 40 minutes, depending on how much the respondent has to say in each domain area. Permission will be sought to record the session—otherwise the interviewer’s assistant will take detailed notes. Participants will receive a $25 gift card for this interview. Pretesting will take place as a telephone interview.

A6. Revised Former WIC Participant Case Study Interview Guide

The NSWP-III Former WIC Participant Case Study Interview Guide will be used to collect information from 125 former WIC participants who are determined to be eligible through administrative data provided by SAs.

Instructions for Reviewers

The Former WIC Participant Case Study Interview Guide will be administered via telephone by trained qualitative researchers using a Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) system version of the survey.

The NSWP-III version of the Former WIC Participant Case Study Interview Guide is adapted from the Minnesota Department of Health WIC Program study, “Women, Infants, and Children (WIC): Awareness, Experience, and Access.”

Table 1: Former Participant Survey Modules
Name	Page
Demographics	2
Experience with WIC Program	3
Services Used While in WIC Program	3
Experience with WIC Clinics	4
Shopping	5
Reasons for Leaving	6
Recommendations	6
End Survey	7

Typically, qualitative researchers will administer the numbered modules in order, but they may navigate between modules as needed during the interview.

Text that qualitative researchers read aloud (questions, response options where indicated) appear in regular text, while on-screen instructions to qualitative researchers appear in CAPITALIZED TEXT.

INTRO: Hi. Thanks for agreeing to do this survey. Your answers are private. None of the information you share with me will cause your WIC benefits to change. The questions I am going to ask are about your previous experiences with WIC. This takes about 30 minutes. After that I will have a few questions to ask you about the survey and what you thought about it. After we finish, I will get your address so I can send a $25 gift card to thank you for your participation.

READ INFORMED CONSENT STATEMENT AND GET CONSENT BEFORE PROCEEDING

Demographics

First, I’d like to ask a few questions about you. Remember, everything you tell me is confidential.

1. What is your age?

• 18-29

• 30-39

• 40-49

• 50+

2. What is your current relationship status?

• Single, never married

• Married or living with a partner

• Divorced or separated

• Widowed

3. How many children do you have?

• 0 (GO TO 3B)

• 1

• 2-3

• 4-5

• 6+

3A. What are the ages of your children?

PLEASE INDICATE AGE OF EACH CHILD. USE “0” FOR CHILDREN UNDER AGE 1.

3B. Are you currently pregnant?

• Yes

• No

4. What is the highest level of education you have completed?

• Some high school

• High school graduate/GED

• Some college/technical school

• Associate’s degree/certificate

• Bachelor’s degree

• Some graduate school or more
  
  

5. How do you identify your race/ethnicity? (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)

• African American

• American Indian

• Asian/Pacific Islander

• White/Caucasian

• Hispanic/Latina

• Other: PLEASE SPECIFY___________________

6. What language(s) do you speak at home? PROBE: primary language spoken.

Experience with WIC Program

Next, I would like to ask you some questions about your experiences and satisfaction with the WIC program.

7. When did you participate in the WIC program? PROBE: month and year.

8. How long did you participate in the WIC program? Was this time spent at one WIC clinic? PROBE: How many clinics?

9. Do you have children and/or infants who participated in the WIC program during that time? If yes, how many?

10. How did you first hear about the WIC program?

11. Why did you decide to participate in the WIC program?

12. Was it easy or difficult to enroll in the WIC program? PROBE: Why was it easy/difficult? Can you tell me more about that?

12A. Please tell me about your experience with the WIC staff who helped you with your certification paperwork? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

13. Was it easy or difficult to maintain your participation in the WIC program? PROBE: What made it easy to stay enrolled in the WIC program? OR What made it difficult to stay enrolled in the WIC program?

14. Please tell me how you feel about your overall experience in the WIC program? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

Services used while in WIC Program

Next I would like to ask you about the services you used while you were in the WIC program.

15. What services did you use while you were in the WIC program? PROBE: food benefits, breastfeeding peer counseling, referrals to other programs/health services, nutrition education and counseling, vaccinations, etc.

16. What was your experience with those services? PROBE: What could the WIC program do to make those services better?

16A. How would you rate [insert services used in Q15 one at a time] service you received from the WIC program?

• Excellent

• Good

• Fair

• Poor

16B. Can you tell me more about why you rated it that way? PROBE: What could the WIC program do to make those services better?

17. Can you tell me something you learned from the WIC program that you did not know before?

PROBE: How did you use that information?

Experiences with WIC Clinics

Now I have a few questions about your experience with WIC clinics.

18. How was your overall experience at the clinic? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

18A. How satisfied were you with the amount of time you had to wait before your appointment? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

18B. How satisfied were you with the waiting area in the clinics you used? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

19. Were the locations of the clinics you used convenient to get to from where you live? PROBE: Why/why not were the clinics convenient? Can you tell me more about that?

20. How was your experience with the staff at the clinics you used? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

21. What was your experience with scheduling appointments at the clinics you used?

21A. How was your experience finding appointment times that fit your schedule?
PROBE:

1. What made it easy to find an appointment time that fit your schedule? (EXAMPLES: hours of clinic, participant work schedule, etc.)

2. What made it difficult to find an appointment time that fit your schedule? (EXAMPLES: hours of clinic, participant work schedule, etc.)

21B. How was your experience finding childcare during your appointment time? PROBE: Can you tell me more about why that was?

21C. How was your experience finding transportation to get to your appointment? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

22. Overall, how was your experience with the WIC staff? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?
    
    
    

Shopping

Now I would like to ask you some questions about the stores where you used your WIC vouchers or EBT card.

23. Please tell me about the types of stores you visited to use your WIC benefits to purchase food. (EXAMPLES: grocery stores, farmers’ markets, convenience stores, commissaries, etc.)

24. How was your overall experience using WIC benefits at these stores? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

25. How comfortable did you feel using your benefits at these stores? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

26. How convenient was it to travel to these stores to use your WIC benefits?
    PROBE:

1. Can you tell me more about that? What made it convenient? OR

2. Can you tell me more about that? What made it inconvenient?

26A. How was your experience finding transportation to these stores?

PROBE:

1. Can you tell me more about that?

2. Did you have your own transportation or did you rely on someone else?

27. What did you think of the choices or variety of foods you were able to purchase with your WIC benefits? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

27A. ASK ONLY IF PARTICIPANT HAD CHILDREN ENROLLED IN WIC.
Were you able to purchase the foods that your infant and/or child usually eats? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

28. How was your experience finding WIC-approved foods in the stores where you usually used your WIC benefits? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

29. Please tell me about your experience with the staff at the stores where you usually used your WIC benefits.

29A. How would you describe the way they treated you?

30. Please tell me about other customers at the stores where you usually used your WIC benefits.

30A. How would you describe the way they treated you?

31. What could be done to improve this experience (using WIC benefits to purchase food at stores) for other participants? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

Reasons for leaving

Next I’m going to ask you some questions about why you stopped participating in the WIC program.

32. For what reasons did you leave the WIC program? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

33. Did you have any needs that the WIC program did not meet? (EXAMPLES: related to breastfeeding counseling, gaining health services or information you needed, receiving nutrition education and counseling, etc.)

33A. Was this because the services were not offered at all or because the services offered did not do enough to meet your needs? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

34. Were there things that made it difficult for you to continue participating in the WIC program? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

35. Do you think you are still eligible for the WIC program? PROBE: Why do you think that you are eligible/not eligible?

36. What could be done to encourage you to participate in the WIC program again if you are eligible? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

37. What would stop you from participating in the WIC program again? PROBE: Can you tell me more about that?

38. Have you been or are you (or your child) enrolled in any of the following programs (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY):

• SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as Food Stamps)

• NSLP (National School Lunch Program)

• FDPIR (Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations)

• SBP (School Breakfast Program)

• SFSP (Summer Food Service Program)

• CACFP (Child and Adult Care Food Program)

• Medicaid

• TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families)

38A. IF YES TO ANY: How did your enrollment in these programs influence your decision to leave the WIC program?

Recommendations

39. Is there anything else that you would like to share with us about your experience with the WIC program? Are there any suggestions you have about how to improve the WIC program?
    
    

End of survey

Those are all the questions we have at this time. Do you have any final questions or comments for us?

May I have your address so I can send a $25 gift card to thank you for your participation?

Thank you for your time!