Alternative Supporting Statement for Information Collections Designed for
Research, Public Health Surveillance, and Program Evaluation Purposes
Virtual Home Visiting Roundtable Discussions
Formative Data Collections for Program Support
0970 – 0531
Supporting Statement
Part A
JANUARY 2022
Submitted By:
Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation
Administration for Children and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
4th Floor, Mary E. Switzer Building
330 C Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20201
Project Officer: Nancy Geyelin Margie
Part A
Executive Summary
Type of Request: This Information Collection Request is for a generic information collection under the umbrella generic, Formative Data Collections for Program Support (0970-0531).
Description of Request: The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), in collaboration with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), plans to conduct a series of three virtual roundtables with a diverse array of home visiting experts, including national home visiting experts, state and tribal administrators, local program staff and home visitors, families, model developers, researchers, and advocates. Each roundtable will be designed to elicit input and feedback from pre-identified experts in response to discussion questions, developed in advance, regarding the virtual delivery of home visiting services before and during the COVID-19 health emergency. Information shared during the roundtable discussions is intended to ensure that HRSA and ACF have a clear understanding of how the home visiting field is thinking about and prioritizing the implementation of and planning for virtual home visiting in states, territories, and Tribal entities. We do not intend for this information to be used as the principal basis for public policy decisions.
Time Sensitivity: To fit within project and contract timeline constraints, the first roundtable must be held by early March 2022, and all three roundtables must be completed by the middle of April 2022.
A1. Necessity for Collection
The COVID-19 health emergency (the pandemic) has directly impacted home visiting services provided through the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program, which is administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), in collaboration with the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). ACF, in collaboration with HRSA, plans to conduct a series of three virtual roundtables regarding the virtual delivery of home visiting services before and during the pandemic. The goal is to gain a better understanding of how the home visiting field is thinking about and prioritizing the implementation of and planning for virtual home visiting in states, territories, and Tribal entities. This information is needed to help inform implementation of the MIECHV Program, provide technical assistance to MIECHV awardees and Tribal MIECHV grantees, and inform future research and evaluation activities.
There are no legal or administrative requirements that necessitate this collection. ACF is undertaking the collection at the discretion of the agency.
A2. Purpose
Purpose and Use
This proposed information collection meets the following goals of ACF’s generic clearance for formative data collections for program support (0970-0531):
Delivery of targeted assistance related to program implementation.
Planning for provision of programmatic or evaluation-related training or technical assistance (T/TA).
Development of learning agendas and research priorities.
The purpose of the roundtables is to discuss the implementation of home visiting services through virtual means, both before and during the pandemic, and discuss implications for the field.
One roundtable will provide the opportunity to discuss these topics with representatives from organizations working in the field of home visiting at the national level, such as model developers, researchers, technical assistance providers, and advocates. The other two roundtables will provide the opportunity to discuss these topics with (1) state and territory MIECHV administrators, state/territory LIA staff, and families participating in state/territory MIECHV home visiting services, and (2) Tribal leaders, Tribal MIECHV home visiting program administrators, Tribal LIA staff, and families participating in Tribal MIECHV home visiting services. ACF and HRSA hope that this series of roundtables will allow us to hear a variety of perspectives on virtual home visiting.
Specifically, during the roundtables, ACF and HRSA aim to identify:
Benefits, challenges or barriers, and lessons learned related to providing virtual home visiting;
Innovative approaches to virtual service delivery;
Relevant research that has been conducted or is being conducted, and research questions that would be of interest to answer with future work; and
Strategies for strengthening home visiting programs in general and the MIECHV Program in particular.
The primary intended use of the information collected during the roundtable discussions is to inform ACF and HRSA’s understanding of how the home visiting field is prioritizing the implementation of and planning for virtual home visiting in states, territories, and Tribal entities, which will help inform implementation of the MIECHV Program, provide technical assistance to MIECHV awardees and Tribal MIECHV grantees, and inform future research and evaluation activities. The information will also likely be of interest and helpful to the home visiting field beyond MIECHV as well; therefore, findings from the roundtable discussions will be summarized and shared publicly via a brief report that will be prepared by the contractor and posted on the OPRE website. Comments summarized in the report will not be attributed to individual speakers by name.
The information collected is meant to contribute to the body of knowledge on ACF programs. It is not intended to be used as the principal basis for a decision by a federal decision-maker and is not expected to meet the threshold of influential or highly influential scientific information.
Guiding Questions
What constitutes virtual home visiting?
What has been the experience of virtual home visiting for each interested group?
What do various interested groups hope virtual home visiting will look like in the future?
How has virtual service delivery affected data collection?
How does virtual home visiting affect where families are being served?
What does research tell us about virtual service delivery?
The roundtable format is ideal for discussing these topics with the field and for gathering information to teach ACF and HRSA more about what is known about virtual home visiting and how the field intends to continue to learn and innovate into the future. To facilitate discussion, one Virtual Home Visiting Roundtable Discussion Guide will be used at each roundtable, and questions may be tailored to each audience.
A limitation of this format is that it does not gather information from everyone in the field. To be productive, the discussions will be limited to a maximum of 50 people per roundtable, resulting in information based on experiences of representatives of each interested group rather than gathering comprehensive information about all experiences of all members of each interested group. Limitations will be noted in all publicly available materials.
Information Collection Procedures and Processes
Data Collection Activity |
Instrument |
Respondent, Content, Purpose of Collection |
Mode and Duration |
Series of three virtual roundtable discussions with:
|
Virtual Home Visiting Roundtable Discussion Guide
|
Respondents:
Content: See guiding questions above.
Purpose: Identify benefits, challenges or barriers, and lessons learned related to providing virtual home visiting; innovative approaches to virtual service delivery; relevant research that has been conducted or is being conducted and research questions that would be of interest to answer with future work; and strategies for strengthening home visiting programs in general and the MIECHV Program in particular. |
Mode: Virtual large group and small group discussions.
Duration: 2 hours for each roundtable. Each roundtable will be held once. |
Other Data Sources and Uses of Information
This information will not be used in concert with other federal data collection activities.
A3. Use of Information Technology to Reduce Burden
The roundtable discussions will be held virtually via Zoom, which reduces burden on participants to travel. The roundtable discussions will also be recorded with permission, which reduces the time needed to repeat or clarify discussion points and comments.
A4. Use of Existing Data: Efforts to reduce duplication, minimize burden, and increase utility and government efficiency
The discussion guide questions are building on existing research findings on virtual delivery of home visiting services, such as findings from a survey and interviews conducted with home visitors in 2020 and 2021 as part of a Home Visiting Applied Research Collaborative (HARC) study of virtual home visiting. However, no existing information includes the variety of perspectives (i.e., state and tribal administrators, local program staff and home visitors, families, model developers, researchers, advocates) on virtual home visiting that the roundtables will provide.
A5. Impact on Small Businesses
No small businesses will be involved with this information collection, with the exception of some participating home visiting staff who may be involved in small businesses. Discussions will be held virtually, allowing more flexibility for those who choose to participate.
A6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection
This is a one-time data collection.
A7. Now subsumed under 2(b) above and 10 (below)
A8. Consultation
Federal Register Notice and Comments
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR Part 1320 (60 FR 44978, August 29, 1995), ACF published two notices in the Federal Register announcing the agency’s intention to request an OMB review of the overarching generic clearance for formative information collection. The first notice was published on October 13, 2020, Volume 85, Number 198, page 64480, and provided a sixty-day period for public comment. The second notice published on December 28, 2020, Volume 85, Number 248, page 84343, and provided a thirty-day period for public comment. ACF did not receive any substantive comments.
No external experts were consulted in preparation for this data collection activity.
A9. Tokens of Appreciation
No tokens of appreciation will be provided to participants. Honoraria will be provided for participants to share their expertise and experiences in the area of home visiting. See section A13 for additional information.
A10. Privacy: Procedures to protect privacy of information, while maximizing data sharing
Personally Identifiable Information
The only personally identifiable information that will be collected is name, organization, and email. This information will be used for registration purposes.
Information will not be maintained in a paper or electronic system from which data are actually or directly retrieved by an individuals’ personal identifier.
Assurances of Privacy
Information collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. Respondents will be informed of all planned uses of data, that their participation is voluntary, and that their information will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. As specified in the contract, the Contractor will comply with all Federal and Departmental regulations for private information.
Data Security and Monitoring
Recordings will be password protected and housed on a secure MS Teams space. The recordings will be for the writers only and able to be accessed only by the very limited group of staff whose access is required.
A11. Sensitive Information 1
No sensitive information will be collected as part of this data collection activity.
A12. Burden
Explanation of Burden Estimates
Each roundtable is scheduled to include two (2) hours dedicated to the discussions with participants. This is based on prior experience with gathering information virtually from groups of this size on projects of similar scope.
Instrument |
No. of Respondents (total over request period) |
No. of Responses per Respondent (total over request period) |
Avg. Burden per Response (in hours) |
Total/ Annual Burden (in hours) |
Average Hourly Wage Rate |
Total Annual Respondent Cost |
Roundtable Discussion Guide |
150 |
1 |
2 |
300 |
$31.20 |
$9,360 |
Total |
|
|
|
|
$31.20 |
$9,360 |
Estimated Annualized Cost to Respondents
Average hourly wage rate calculated as follows:
The roundtables will include:
Social and community service managers (BLS Job Code 11-9151; May 2020; https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#19-0000): $36.13/hr x 30 = $1,083.90
Social Scientists and related workers (BLS Job Code 19-3000; May 2020; https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#19-0000): $43.34/hr x 20 = $866.80
State Government – Social and Community Service Managers (BLS Job Code 11-9151; May 2020; https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_999200.htm#11-0000): $37.23/hr x 20 = $744.60
Home visitors (Home Visiting Career Trajectories Final Report, February 2020; https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/opre/hvct_final_report_feb_2020.pdf): $17.80/hr x 20 = $356.00
Parents (hourly rate assuming 2021 median weekly income for someone with some college or an Associate degree; Current Population Survey; https://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpswktab5.htm): $23.08/hr x 30 = $692.40
Overall Average Hourly Wage: $31.20
A13. Costs
Executive Order (EO), Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government (EO 13985)2 emphasizes consulting with communities that have been historically underserved by Federal policies and programs. The Presidential Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-Based Policy Making3, as well as the ACF Evaluation Policy4 discuss community engagement and inclusion in research. Consistent with these guidance documents, and to ensure involvement with a variety of people with diverse experiences and perspectives in the home visiting field, we plan to offer all participants an honorarium of $100 for their time spent providing their expertise and experience during the roundtable discussions. We expect participants to spend about two hours providing feedback during a roundtable discussion. We intend to provide the same amount to all participants because we value each participant’s expertise equally. This approach is supported by a recent brief from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Methods and Emerging Strategies to Engage People with Lived Experience.i
A14. Estimated Annualized Costs to the Federal Government
Cost Category |
Estimated Costs |
Conduct roundtables and post-roundtable follow-up work (estimated contractor staff time: 415 hours) |
$89,440 |
Analyze and summarize findings from the roundtable discussions (estimated contractor staff time: 30 hours) |
$6,660 |
Total/Annual costs over the request period |
A15. Reasons for changes in burden
This is for an individual information collection under the umbrella formative generic clearance for program support (0970-0531).
A16. Timeline
Preparation for roundtables: 3 months
Roundtables (after OMB approval): 1 month
Production of report summarizing discussions at roundtables: 6 months
A17. Exceptions
No exceptions are necessary for this information collection.
Attachments:
Instrument 1: Virtual Home Visiting Roundtable Discussion Guide
1 Examples of sensitive topics include (but not limited to): social security number; sex behavior and attitudes; illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating and demeaning behavior; critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close relationships, e.g., family, pupil-teacher, employee-supervisor; mental and psychological problems potentially embarrassing to respondents; religion and indicators of religion; community activities which indicate political affiliation and attitudes; legally recognized privileged and analogous relationships, such as those of lawyers, physicians and ministers; records describing how an individual exercises rights guaranteed by the First Amendment; receipt of economic assistance from the government (e.g., unemployment or WIC or SNAP); immigration/citizenship status.
2 https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/
3 https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/27/memorandum-on-restoring-trust-in-government-through-scientific-integrity-and-evidence-based-policymaking/
4 https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/report/acf-evaluation-policy
i Methods and Emerging Strategies to Engage People with Lived Experience: Improving Federal Research, Policy, and Practice (hhs.gov)
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2022-05-04 |