Form Focus Group Protoc Focus Group Protoc Focus Group Protocol

Attachment A

Focus Group Protocol

OMB No. 0930-196

Expiration Date: 9/30/19

UAD PSA Concept Testing - Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) Underage Drinking Prevention: Parent Focus Group Protocol

Description

Parents and caregivers will participate in four Focus Groups Discussions (FGDs) to pretest two different concepts during the process of development of a Public Service Announcement (PSA) aiming to reach military parents of children 9 to 15 years old and increasing conversation about underage drinking and substance use prevention. To that end the PSA concepts will: harness the power of parents by modeling conversations and bringing the topics of underage drinking and substance use prevention in community conversations; spread awareness about underage drinking and substance use prevention, dispel misperceptions and provide ideas for keeping conversations ongoing; and provide ideas and overall structure for dialogue and engagement about underage drinking and substance use prevention issues.

The concept testing will determine if the PSA concept is resonating with the target population in terms of relevance, comprehension, memorability, identification, and appeal. The focus groups will also explore about questions, topics and issues that parents want to know about underage drinking and substance use prevention.

TARGET AUDIENCE: Military parents/caregivers of children ages 9–15

1. GOAL

Pretest two PSA concepts developed to increase peer-to-peer conversations among military parents and caregivers of children 9 to 15 to prevent underage drinking and substance use.

2. OBJECTIVES

Conduct four FGDs with racial and ethnic diverse groups of military parents and caregivers, to:

• Explore opinions, suggestions and concerns of the target populations (TAs) about two proposed PSA concepts, and provide recommendations to make them more relevant

• Obtain participant reactions to the specific proposals, and gauge ideas to make the concepts more relevant, identifiable, understandable, memorable, and appealing.

• Select one PSA concept based on TA feedback, and further develop and pretest them to increase identification, relevance, and effectiveness of the message.

3. METHODOLOGY

• Forty screened and recruited individuals, divided into 4 groups of 10 participants each, will participate in 90-minute FG sessions.

• Participants that include military parents and caregivers of children 9 to 15 will review the two concepts presented through the use of animatics, to assess the message’s effectivity in increasing parent-to-child conversations about underage drinking and substance use prevention.

• One FGD will take place in the following cities: Norfolk, VA; Federal Way, WA; Colorado Springs, CO; Columbia, SC.

• Screener and recruitment questionnaires (Attachment B) will be provide to the market research vendors on each city to guarantee the desired composition of each group.

• FGDs will be conducted preferably after work hours, based on potential participants’ availability.

• The FGD sessions will be facilitated by a skilled moderator.

• Before the FG session, participants will complete a release/consent form of use of the information provided (see Attachment C).

• An approved FGD guide (see Attachment D) will be used to facilitate all groups.

• After concluding the FGD session, participants will receive a gift card for the value of $50.

• Each group will last 90 minutes, and all sessions will be digitally recorded in order to reconstruct conversations and capture all ideas.

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

• Recordings and notes will be listened to and reviewed after each session to create “extended notes.”

• After each session, a top-line report of findings will be drafted and sent to SAMHSA for review.

• Documents with extended notes will be produced to facilitate the coding process.

• Information obtained during the FGDs will be coded and analyzed.

• A FGD findings report will be developed and submitted.

4. TIMETABLE

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	August 28 – September 1, 2016- September 5, 2017
Submit OMB package for approval	Final OMB package summited to SAMHSA SAMHSA summit OMB package to HHS OMB receive approval	September 8, 2017 September 15, 2017 November 1, 2017
Conduct FGDs	Synergy identify and hire research market vendor in each city Vendors conducts screening of potential participants Norfolk, VA Federal Way, WA Colorado Springs, CO Columbia, SC Vendors recruitment focus group participants: Norfolk, VA Federal Way, WA Colorado Springs, CO Columbia, SC Synergy conducts a FG dry run at SAMHA (via phone or in person) Synergy conducts focus groups: Norfolk, VA Federal Way, WA Colorado Springs, CO Columbia, SC Synergy produces top-line reports	August/September 2017 October 2017 November 2017 November 2017 December 2017 Late January 2018
Present Topline/highlights	Synergy present topline highlights to SAMHSA	February, 2018
Analyze FGDs Results	Synergy creates extended notes Coding information Conducting analysis of the focus groups results Delivers a final report	Late February, 2018

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