Form Intervention Resou Intervention Resou Intervention Resources Focus Group Protocol

OMB No. 0930-0196

Expiration Date: 09/30/2019

Attachment A

Intervention Resources Focus Group Protocol

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) -- Intervention Resources Materials Concept Testing: Parents and Young Adults Focus Group Protocol

Description

SAMHSA wants to convene focus groups to develop and test content for two public educational resources. The first resource will target parents of young adults seeking to prevent further escalation of their child’s existing substance use or support their children’s treatment and recovery efforts. The second resource will target parents bereaved by their child’s substance use-related overdose. These resources will take into consideration not only literacy levels but also cultural competence and appropriateness.

TARGET AUDIENCES:

The primary and secondary target audiences of this effort are as follows:

Primary target audience:

1. Parents of young adults 17 to 25 years old who are currently engaging in or are in treatment for substance use, and

2. Parents who have lost children ages 17 to 25 years old to an overdose death.

Secondary target audience:

3. Young adults from 17 to 25 who are currently using drugs or in treatment for substance use.

1. GOAL

SAMHSA will garner audience reaction on the format, tone and content of proposed intervention resource materials designed to address the information gap for parents of 17-25 year olds. These materials will provide parents with guidance to prevent further escalation of their children’s drug use, support children undergoing treatment, navigate the grief caused by the loss of a child to overdose and overcome related stigma.

2. OBJECTIVES

SAMHSA will conduct six (6) focus groups, two (2) per target audience in order to explore and assess the following:

The proposed focus groups will aim to explore and assess the following:

• Parents’ perceptions of the resources, information and skills they need to engage and support the recovery of children using drugs

• The resources, information and skills parents experiencing overdose bereavement require to navigate the grief process and overcome stigma

• The perceptions of young adults engaged in or recovering from substance use regarding supportive social norms and trusted sources of information as well as their lack of knowledge about, or experience addressing, the negative consequences of substance use

• The relevance, completeness and tone of mock-ups of the proposed resource guides

The information obtained from the focus groups will guide the developers of the resource guides as they refine the messaging and products to make them more relevant for the target audiences.

III. METHODOLOGY

• Conduct six focus groups in total; three each in two geographically dispersed markets, Richmond, Virginia, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

• SAMHSA will provide a screening and recruitment questionnaire for recruitment vendors to use in recruiting the focus group participants in order to ensure that the individuals participating in each group will meet the needs of the study.

• Recruit parents and young adults for participation representing diverse racial and ethnic groups and exhibiting different socioeconomic, cultural, educational, and demographic backgrounds.

• Eight (8) participants will be seated in the group to increase depth of participation.

• Use questions similar to the line of questions asked of participants from focus groups for concept testing to assess the relevance and effectiveness of communication materials and those from formative assessments.

• Include questions that facilitate the assessment of variables such as: comprehension, readability, appeal, relevance, effectiveness and believability of the written information.

• Each focus group will be 90 minutes long. The time breakdown for each focus group is the following:

• Upon arrival and prior to entering the focus group room, two minutes to prescreen potential participants; and five minutes to read and sign consent/release forms

• 90 minutes to participate in the introduction, guidelines, and group discussion.

• After the conclusion of the focus group discussion, participants will receive a gift card for the value of $50

• At each site, a note taker will record salient points throughout the session.

• Digital recordings of each session will be used to create “informal transcripts.”

• Transcripts and notes will be reviewed to create preliminary and final reporting of the findings of the sessions.

• Any written exercises will be collected and included in the analysis

• After each session, a one to two page summary highlights of the focus group will be drafted and sent to SAMHSA for review.

• Information obtained during the FGDs and included in the informal transcripts will be analyzed.

• A detailed report of the findings will be developed and submitted.

IV. TMETABLE

TASK	ACTIVITY	DATE
Design OMB package	Synergy develops first draft of the focus group plan, including protocol and data collection instruments Circulate draft for internal feedback and comments	December 2016 December 2016
Submit OMB package for approval	Final OMB package summited to SAMHSA SAMHSA submit OMB package to HHS OMB receive approval	December 2016 Jan 2017 Feb 1, 2017
Conduct FGDs	Synergy identify and hire vendor to assess each city’s suitability Vendors conducts screening of potential participants Richmond, VA Oklahoma City, OK Synergy conducts focus groups: Richmond, VA Oklahoma City, OK Synergy produces session summary reports Transcripts of all sessions	Early Feb 2017 Mid Feb 2017 Mid Feb 2017 Week of Feb 27, 2017 Week of March 6, 2017 Week of Feb 27, 2017 Week of March 6, 2017 Week of March 13, 2017
Presentation of Topline/highlights	Synergy present topline highlights to SAMHSA	Week of March 13, 2017
FGDs Analysis	Conducting analysis of the focus groups results	Week of March 27, 2017
Final Report	Submit final report and supporting documents	Week of April 3, 2017

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