Wellness Focus Group Facilitator Guide

OMB No. 0930-0196

Expiration Date: 09/30/2019

Attachment D

Wellness Focus Group Facilitator Guide

Public Burden Statement: 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 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The OMB control number for this project is 0930-0196. The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 90 minutes per respondent, per year, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Reports Clearance Officer, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 15E57-B, Rockville, Maryland 20857.

WELLNESS FOCUS GROUP FACILITATOR GUIDE

Roadmap of planned activities	Introduction, disclosures, guidelines, self-introductions	10 minutes
	Opening discussion—concept of wellness	10 minutes
	Noncomparative logo evaluation	30 minutes
	Comparative logo evaluation	10 minutes
	Evaluation of infographic	30 minutes
	TOTAL TIME AVAILABLE	90 minutes

1. Onsite Materials

• Authorization and Release forms (15 copies)

• Focus Group Discussion Guide

• Pens, name tags, markers

• Two digital audio recorders (if not in the focus group facility)

• Flip chart with the Wellness definition

• Flip chart with the Eight Dimensions of Wellness graphic

• Flip chart with the Wellness icons

• Three logo layouts (flip-chart size and individual copies)

• Two infographics (flip-chart size and individual copies)

• Rating worksheets 1 and 2 (15 copies each)

2. Preparation

• Place refreshments within easy reach of the participants.

• As participants arrive, give them their name tags.

• Give each participant an Authorization and Release form. Ask the participants to complete and return the forms to you before the start of the session. Be sure to address any concerns.

3. Introduction and Objectives of the Group Discussion

• Good evening. Welcome! We are very grateful to all of you for taking time from your busy schedules to come here to talk with us.

• My name is _______________, and I will facilitate our conversation today. With me is my colleague _______________, who will help us by taking notes about our discussion.

• You’ve been invited because we want to get your opinions, ideas, suggestions, and concerns about some materials that are currently in development.

• These materials are financed and sponsored by a U.S. federal government agency that is raising awareness about health disparities between people with serious mental and/or substance use disorders and the general population.

• The initiative we will talk about today, called the Wellness Initiative, encourages people to improve their mental and physical health through positive lifestyle changes. The goal is to help people improve their quality of life and increase their years of life, especially those with behavioral health conditions.

• Today we will discuss several materials that are currently in development and will support the Initiative.

• Your participation in this discussion is of great importance to us. Based on your suggestions, we will refine the products and make them more appealing, more relevant, and more understandable by the target audiences.

• You will not be seeing the final materials. We will show you mockups, which are draft versions, so you can get the main idea and help us take the next steps in development. Once we get your feedback, we will revise the materials to make them more meaningful for the target audiences.

4. Methodology, Disclosures, and Guidelines

• Now I would like to talk about the structure of this session, and give you some guidelines to ensure that we have a valuable conversation and that all of you have the opportunity to participate.

• This session will last 90 minutes.

• You all signed an Authorization and Release form that said we are videotaping and audiotaping this session so that the information recorded can be used to reconstruct our conversation; this will ensure that we capture all of your ideas.

• Your names won’t be linked in any way to your opinions. We won’t use your names in the report about this session.

• The written report we develop will have only your opinions, suggestions, feelings, or experiences, not “who said what,” but what was said.

• We are also taking notes. My colleague, _______________, is taking notes to ensure that we capture the most important information.

• We want to hear about your opinions, comments, and experiences. There are no good or bad answers. Feel free to disagree with what is being said; we want to have several points of view. We want both positive and negative comments that will help us improve the materials.

• To make this work as a research session, we have some guidelines for you to follow:

• Please talk one at a time and in a voice at least as loud as mine.

• Avoid side conversations.

• I need to hear from everyone in the course of the conversation, and, to the degree possible, let’s have equal “air time,” so that everyone talks about the same amount. Nobody talks too much, and nobody talks too little.

• I may need to move on to another area of discussion sooner than you’re ready, so I may have to cut a conversation short in the interest of time. If I interrupt you, it’s not personal; I just want to cover everything on the agenda. You’re welcome to speak to me after the group discussion is over so I can be sure to hear all your thoughts.

• We’ll be asking you to do several things tonight: Participate in a group discussion, look at some materials and messages (again, not in their final form, but as mockups), and, occasionally, do some private writing.

• At any time, you can excuse yourself to go to the restroom or get more food or beverages. I ask that only one person at a time be up and about.

• Before we begin, do you have any questions for me?

5. Group Discussion

1. INTRODUCTIONS AND ICEBREAKING EXERCISE

• As I mentioned earlier, we’re developing several materials about wellness, but before we show them to you, we want to explore with you the meaning of wellness.

• Let’s start our conversation today by going around the room. Please say your name and tell us two things you believe are related to the concept of wellness.

2. EXPLORING UNDERSTANDING OF THE WELLNESS CONCEPT

• What do you understand by wellness? [PROBE] Is it concepts about health and disease, quality of life, healthy lifestyles choices?¹

• What aspects of your life do you believe are part of your own wellness? [PROBE] Why do you believe that (name the aspect that a participant offers) contributes to achieving a healthy lifestyle and wellness? [Explore the eight dimensions.²] [PROBE] How do you think that (name of dimension) is related to your wellness?

• [REVEAL THE WELLNESS DEFINITION.]

• Why do you think people should improve, maintain, or nurture their own wellness?

• What are some of the reasons why people don’t take care of their own wellness?

• What prevents people from achieving wellness?

[SHOW THE EIGHT DIMENSIONS GRAPHIC.]

• Is this graphic conveying the concept we’re discussing? Why? Why not?

[PROBE] How could it better reflect the wellness concept?

3. LOGO EXPLORATION

• Now we’re changing our activity. We want to present three versions of logos that could be chosen as the image or symbol of the Wellness Initiative. We want your feedback about each one.

• We will review them one by one, and then we’ll discuss your preferences. Your feedback will help us improve or change the logo for the Wellness Initiative.

For each logo, we will follow this order:

• Before we say anything about the logo, I’ll hand out a worksheet and give you a couple of minutes to fill it out.

• After you complete the worksheet, we’ll have a group discussion about the logo.

• If you think of questions or comments during the review, please jot them down on your worksheet. We can discuss them after you complete the worksheet.

Show the logos and the infographics in the following order, by group:
Logos Group 1: Logo direction 1; logo direction 2; logo direction 3 Group 2: Logo direction 2; logo direction 3; logo direction 1 Group 3: Logo direction 3; logo direction 1; logo direction 2 Group 4: Logo direction 1; logo direction 2; logo direction 3	1 = Include name 2 = Include name 3 = Include name
Infographics Group 1: Infographic 1; infographic 2 Group 2: Infographic 2; infographic 1 Group 3: Infographic 1; infographic 2 Group 4: Infographic 2; infographic 1	1 = Include name 2 = Include name

SHOWCASE EACH LOGO IN THE ORDER DRESCRIBED ABOVE.

DISTRIBUTE WORKSHEET 1

EXPLAIN: After seeing the first logo, please write down what you see in the image and what you think the message is. [WAIT A FEW MINUTES FOR PARTICIPANTS TO COMPLETE THE EXERCISE.] [Proceed in the same way with each logo.]

ANALYZING THE LOGO

• Please tell me what you see in this image. What does it look like to you?

• What is the information that you get in seeing this image?

• What is this image asking you to do?

• Do you think this image is asking you to do anything in particular? If so, what?

• Have you seen this image before? If yes, where have you seen it?

• Are there any words or phrases you don’t understand? What are they?

• Now, in your own words, what do you think this image is saying?

• Is there anything about the picture or the writing that might offend or confuse some people? What would that be?

• Is there anything about this image that you really like or dislike? What?

ANALYZING THE ICONS AND TAGLINE

Questions about the aesthetics of the text, photo/objects, and colors:

• How are colors used differently in each one? Are some colors more powerful than others?

• Do the sizes of the objects matter in the presentation? Why? How?

• How do the words support or distract from the message?

COLLECT WORKSHEET 1.

4. COMPARATIVE EVALUATION

DISTRIBUTE THE RANKING FORM (WORKSHEET 2).

Selection of the best logo (Identify which logo is preferred by the respondents.)

• Of the logos we showed you, which one do you remember the most? Which one do you like the most? Which one do you think is the most appealing or attractive? Why?

• Which of these three concepts best captures your attention?

• Which of these three concepts most clearly communicates the meaning of Wellness?

• Which one communicates the benefits of Wellness most strongly?

• Which of these three concepts do you relate to the most?

• Which of the three concepts do you think would be most likely to convince people in recovery to invest in their own Wellness? Why?

• Does it look just as good in one color or in black and white as it does in full color?

5. ANALYZING THE INFOGRAPHIC

• What is useful about this format?

• What are the different pieces of information included on the infographic?

• What information is included in this infographic that allows non science people to understand the content?

• In your own words, describe briefly what the infographic is about. [Elicit two or three statements that highlight the purpose of the infographic.]

• [PROBE] What is the infographic about? What story is being told?

• Does it have a clear and meaningful title? What kind of headlines, introductory copy, or labels could be included to make it meaningful for a broad audience?

• Does it tell a story? What are the most important or surprising elements?

• [PROBE] What does the data mean to you?

• Are there sources for the data? Would you visit the sources?

• Could we go beyond what is currently presented? How?

• Can we provide a better context for the data?

Questions about the aesthetics of text, photo, object, and color:

• In your opinion, how are the colors being used? Are some colors more powerful than others? What is the implication of that?

• How do you think the sizes of the objects matter in the presentation?

• How could colors, sizes, and objects be used to better convey the information? How about the data?

• Can we emphasize those (data) by some means? Which ones?

• How do the words support or distract from the visual message?

• What other things should be presented to give an accurate idea of the topic the infographic covers?

6. CLOSING AND ADJOURNMENT

• Thanks for coming tonight and providing your opinions.

• Your comments have been very helpful and insightful.

• Good night, and have a great day tomorrow.

[BE SURE TO GATHER ALL FORMS FROM PARTICIPANTS.]

WORKSHEET 1

Name: LOGO 1 _________________________________________________________________

What do you see in this image/picture? What does it look like to you? _______________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Logo Rankings (Name: LOGO 1)	Low				High
	1	2	3	4	5
Draws attention
Is clear, understandable
Is relevant to the target audiences
Is believable to the target audiences
Looks just as good in one color or in black and white as it does in full color

Name: LOGO 2 _________________________________________________________________

What do you see in this image/picture? What does it look like to you? _______________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Logo Rankings (Name: LOGO 2)	Low				High
	1	2	3	4	5
Draws attention
Is clear, understandable
Is relevant to the target audiences
Is believable to the target audiences
Looks just as good in one color or in black and white as it does in full color

WORKSHEET #1 (continuation)

Name: LOGO 3 _________________________________________________________________

What do you see in this image/picture? What does it look like to you? _______________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Logo Rankings (Name LOGO 3)	Low				High
	1	2	3	4	5
Draws attention
Is clear, understandable
Is relevant to the target audiences
Is believable to the target audiences
Looks just as good in one color or in black and white as it does in full color

WORKSHEET 2

Logo Preference	Name: Logo 1	Name: Logo 2	Name: Logo 3
Which logo do you remember the most?
Which logo do you like best?
Which logo do you think is the most appealing or attractive?
Of the three logos, which one most clearly communicates the meaning of Wellness?

WORKSHEET 3

INFOGRAPHIC

Describe the purpose of the infographic. What it’s about?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

I would like to suggest the following changes: (Write them below in order of priority.)

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

1 Wellness is not the absence of disease, illness, or stress, but the presence of: Optimal physical and behavioral health, purpose in life, active involvement in satisfying work and play, joyful relationships, and happiness.

2 Emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, environmental, financial, occupational, and social

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