Drugged Driving Generic Clearance

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 2127-0682)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Focus Groups for Assessment of

Creative Concepts Supporting an Awareness Campaign to

Reduce Rx & Over-the-Counter Drug-Impaired Driving

PURPOSE:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was authorized by the Highway Safety Act of 1966 to carry out a Congressional mandate to reduce the mounting number of deaths, injuries and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes on our Nation’s highways. In response to GAO recommendations contained in Section 4009 (Increasing Public Awareness of the Dangers of Drug-Impaired Driving), GAO-15-293 of FAST ACT, Public Law 114-94, NHTSA was directed to “…increase public awareness of the dangers of drug-impaired driving.” NHTSA is developing a drug-impaired communications campaign to support state efforts to raise drivers’ awareness of the risks and dangers of driving while under the influence of forms of prescription and over-the-counter drugs known to have effects that could impair a person’s ability to operate a vehicle safely. This campaign is planned to be implemented in Summer 2019.

NHTSA’s 2013/14 National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers (www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/nti/pdf/812118-Roadside_Survey_2014.pdf) found that 10.3 percent of weekday daytime drivers had evidence of OTC and/or prescription drug use. Numerous other studies from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute of Health have tracked and reported continuing increases in people’s consumption of drugs that include various classes of pain killers, anti-depressants and decongestants. These types of medications are known to adversely impact safe operation of a motor vehicle.

Abuse of opioid pain killers, in particular, predominantly have accounted for many deaths, yet the misuse has increased in recent years. News media reporting of this has been widespread and frequent. Further, considerably more research about opioid abuse is more readily available. For purposes of NHTSA’s efforts in this proposed public communications campaign, opioid abuse is being deemed a bellweather substance, yet various other drugs (as noted above) are also of concern. Interestingly, data collected by CDC, then aggregated and reported by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), indicate clear evidence that abuse of opiod pain killer drugs exists mostly among White/Caucasian people. A 2017 report by KFF, based on CDC data, noted that 78% of people who died from opioid overdoses were whites.

Sources: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, “Opioid Overdose Deaths by Race/Ethnicity,” 2017 (https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/opioid-overdose-deaths-by-raceethnicity/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D).

The data in the Kaiser report were extracted from: Centers for Disease Control, “About Multiple Causes of Death, 1999-2017,” (https://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html).

An integral part of NHTSA’s plan is development of a public communications campaign to increase and sustain awareness of the risks and dangers of driving while impaired by legal prescription and/or over-the-counter drugs. For assessment of the relative strengths and weaknesses of creative concept alternatives, NHTSA seeks to use a qualitative research methodology in the form of focus groups. For past NHTSA campaigns, market research findings in the form of focus groups have been important in gathering feedback because they allow a more in-depth understanding of drivers’ attitudes, beliefs, motivations, and feelings than do quantitative studies. Focus groups serve the narrowly defined need for direct and informal opinion on a specific topic.

NHTSA proposes conducting three focus groups among white female drivers who are ages 25-54 (a primary demographic group for use of the medications) and three groups among white male drivers ages 25-35 (a secondary demographic group of users). People in all six groups would self-report recent use of one or more of these types of medications:

• Opioid pain medications

• Antidepressant medications

• Anxiety medications

• Muscle relaxant medications

• Certain decongestant medications that contribute to drowsiness such as Benadryl or Dimetapp

For the focus groups, six groups will be conducted in each of two cities: Orlando, Florida (one group of women plus one group of men) and Knoxville, Tennessee (two groups of women plus two groups of men). While use of the types of medications is prevalent in nearly every community across the nation, these two cities provide sufficiently large populations to accommodate the recruiting specifications, as well as locally-based, research industry-accredited resources for efficient recruiting and facilitation of focus groups. The two cities also provide a balance between a comparatively larger and smaller community.

Focus groups will play an important role in gathering this information because they allow for more in-depth understanding of people’s attitudes, beliefs, and motivations than do other kinds of studies. If such information is not collected, it will be more difficult and less cost-effective for NHTSA to develop and distribute potentially life-saving messages to its target audience. 

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Focus group respondents will correspond to the campaign’s primary and secondary target audiences: white female drivers ages 25 to 54 who self-report recent use of one or more drugs in the five types listed above (primary audience); and white male drivers ages 25 to 35 who self-report recent use of one or more of the same types of drugs (secondary audience). Six groups will be conducted, each composed of seven to nine pre-screened individuals matching that profile. Each group is projected to last 90 minutes in duration. (This total time is a combination of an “arrive early” window of 15 minutes plus 75-minute focus group session (but is exclusive of the 5-minute screening/recruiting time that’s noted in the BURDEN HOURS section on the fourth page)). Although no more than nine participants will be seated for each group, more than nine per group will be recruited. Given the target market profiles for this effort, fifteen people will be recruited for each group in anticipation of at least nine showing. Even with advance confirmations from qualified recruits, the sensitive nature of the subject matter for this research necessitates the higher number of recruits. Should more than nine arrive on time, only nine will be seated in the group, and the others will be released (as well as paid their promised incentives). For the six groups, two cities will be used. Each proposed city has marketing research industry-accredited focus group facilities available and is expected to have a sufficiently large pool of potential participants for this study:

• Knoxville, TN – 2 groups of women plus 2 groups of men

• Orlando, FL – 1 group of women plus 1 group of men

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[X] Focus Group [ ] Other: ____________________

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: ___Susan McMeen __________________________________________

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [X] Yes [ ] No

Each respondent will be provided with $75 following her/his participation in a focus group session. This amount is in line with the industry standard, relative to focus group participation by people in the target market. These industry-standard stipends help to ensure that respondents can be recruited efficiently and ensure their arrival and participation in the groups. These standards exist to provide fair compensation for costs incurred by participants while attending groups, based on the location of and expenses in each market. As noted earlier, pre-screened and invited respondents who arrive on time but are released prior to the group will also be awarded their stipends (also in keeping with marketing research industry standards).

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	Number of Respondents per Category	Participation Time	Total Burden Hours (Number of Respondents x Participation Time)
Unqualified/Refusal Respondents: Individuals who will be contacted, but screened out or refuse participation	1,500	5 minutes	125
Qualified & Confimed-Acceptance Repondents Who Participate: Individuals who will meet screening criteria, accept participation, and participate in full group sessions	54	95 minutes 5 minutes screening + 15 minutes pre-group arrival + 75 minutes group discussion	85.5
Qualified & Accepted “No-Shows” or “Released-Shows”: Individuals who meet screening criteria and are accepted, but either do not show up for the group; or show up and are released prior to start of group	36	20 minutes for “Released-Shows”; (-0- minutes for “No-Shows”) 5 minutes screening + 15 minutes pre-group arrival (for burden hours calculation, assumption is all individuals are “Released-Shows”)	12
Totals	1,590		222.5 hours

TOTAL BURDEN HOURS: 222.5 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $58,300.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [ X] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

Each focus group facility in each city does the recruiting on behalf of NHTSA and NHTSA’s contractor, The Tombras Group, as described in the screener.  The facility’s recruiting staff works primarily from a pool within its proprietary database of people in that marketplace who have previously submitted demographic, lifestyle and product preference information.  Upon receipt of a screener such as the one for this project, the recruitment manager at the focus group facility will filter the database to search for potential respondents in the designated age group (and any other relevant specs if the firm happens to have one or more of those other criteria established in the database).  Then the recruiters will use telephone calls to those potential respondents to administer the full screener.

 

In any given household, only one person will be screened and confirmed.

 

After going through the database, if the recruiters can't fill the specified total numbers and/or quotas, the secondary step is procuring sample from any of numerous national sample providers of names, addresses and phone numbers.  The recruiters will then make phone calls to this list until the recruiting is completed.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[X] Telephone

[X] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [X ] Yes [ ] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback”

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on xxxx)

PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Provide a brief description of the targeted group or groups for this collection of information. These groups must have experience with the program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.

CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.

Personally Identifiable Information: Provide answers to the questions. Note: Agencies should only collect PII to the extent necessary, and they should only retain PII for the period of time that is necessary to achieve a specific objective.

Gifts or Payments: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households; (2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected per row.

No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of respondents.

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time required for a respondent to participate (e.g. fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)

Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of responses and the participation time and divide by 60.

FEDERAL COST: Provide an estimate of the annual cost to the Federal government.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them. If the answer is yes, to the first question, you may provide the sampling plan in an attachment.

Administration of the Instrument: Identify how the information will be collected. More than one box may be checked. Indicate whether there will be interviewers (e.g. for surveys) or facilitators (e.g., for focus groups) used.

Submit all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

8