Appendix A. Staff Consent

Understanding the Value of Centralized Services

Appendix A

Understanding the Value of Centralized Services

Informed Consent for Interviews of Staff

You are invited to participate in an interview for the Understanding the Value of Centralized Services study. This form will help you decide if you want to participate in the study.

Background

Researchers from two companies, MEF Associates and Mathematica, are conducting the study under contract to the Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Our goal for the project is to understand the benefits, disadvantages, and costs of providing multiple services in a single location from the perspective of service providers and clients.

What will I need to do?

We are talking with people who provide services at a centralized community service center (CCRC), as well as clients of CCRCs. This interview will take about [60 or 75]¹ minutes. During our conversation, we’ll talk about topics such as:

• Features of your organization

• The services provided at your site

• The partnerships between service providers at your site

• Administration, funding, staffing, and information technology at your site

• Perceptions of advantages, disadvantages, and costs of centralizing services

• Challenges, successes, and lessons learned for other practitioners

What are the risks and benefits of participating in this interview?

There are no significant risks to your participation. Sometimes people feel uncomfortable answering some questions. If that happens, you do not have to answer them.

Participating in the interview will not help you directly, but sharing your thoughts and experiences may help improve or inform the services offered through CCRCs more broadly.

Will you share information from the interview?

Only the study team will see the notes or hear the recordings. We will not list your name in any published reports, and comments will not be attributed to you. We will keep your answers private to the extent permissible by law, including from your employers, clients, and colleagues. We will destroy the notes and recordings at the end of the study. For a group interview, we ask that all participants keep what is said in this interview private. However, it is important to note that we cannot ensure that others who participate in this interview do not repeat what is said here. In addition, because of the small number of organizations participating in the study, there is a possibility that a response could be correctly attributed to you.

Do I have to do the interview?

Your participation in the interview is voluntary. Your participation will have no effect on your employment.

Questions:

If you have questions about the study, you can call the project director, Mary Farrell at MEF Associates at 703-838-2723.

If you have questions or concerns about your rights as a study participant, you can contact Health Media Labs Institutional Review Board (IRB), a group that reviewed this study for your protection, at 202-549-1982 or by e-mail at [email protected].²

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This collection of information is voluntary and will be used to study the advantages, disadvantages, and costs of centralized services. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average [60 or 75] minutes per response, including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, collaboration, and reviewing the collection of information. 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 OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is XXXX-XXXX and it expires XX/XX/XXXX.

Understanding the Value of Centralized Services

Verbal Introduction and Consent for Interviews of Staff

We are members of the research team conducting the “Understanding the Value of Centralized Services” study. Its purpose is to learn about how centralized community resource centers (CCRCs) provide services to clients, centralize services in a single location, and what the benefits, challenges, and costs are to providing services in this way.

The study is funded by the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As part of the study, we are visiting three CCRCs across the country. We are talking with individuals who help implement or operate the programs, as well as clients who receive services at these locations.

Before beginning our discussion, we want to thank you for agreeing to talk with us today. We know you are busy and we will try to be as focused as possible. The interview will take about [60 or 75] minutes.

Your participation is voluntary, and there are no penalties for choosing not to take part in the interview. Although your answers are important to the study, you can refuse to answer any questions or stop the interview at any time. Our aim is to learn from your insights and experience, not to audit or judge your agency or programs. You will not benefit personally by participating, however, what we learn from you can help inform or improve services provided at CCRCs more broadly.

Your answers will be kept private to the extent permissible by law. Information you provide will not be shared with other staff at your program or organization. Only the study team will have access to the notes and recordings from this interview. Your name will not be listed in any published reports, and comments will not be attributed to you. Instead, your information will be combined with information provided by others. However, because of the small number of organizations participating in the study, there is a possibility that a response could be correctly attributed to you.

[If a group interview, add: Respecting the privacy of other people in the group is important; please do not talk about anything people say here. We cannot guarantee that others in the group will keep private what is said here.]

If it is all right with you, we would like to record the interview, so we can fill in our notes and make sure we accurately report your thoughts and opinions. We will destroy the notes and recordings at the end of the study. If anyone objects to our recording the discussion, please let us know now. You can also ask us to pause the recorder at any time during the interview.

We are very pleased to have you here today, and we thank you for your time and your opinions. Do you have any questions for us before we begin?

1 Note to OMB: Burden estimate will correspond to the type of staff interviewee. Interviews with leadership and administrative staff and frontline staff will take an estimated 75 minutes. Interviews with finance and IT/data staff will take an estimated 60 minutes.

2 Note to OMB: The VOCS project received research ethics review approval from Health Media Lab on October 5, 2021.