Alternative Supporting Statement for Information Collections Designed for
Research, Public Health Surveillance, and Program Evaluation Purposes
Data Collection to Inform a Curriculum Adaptation for the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP): Promising Youth Programs (PYP) Project
Formative Data Collections for Program Support
0970 – 0531
Supporting Statement
Part A
April 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:
Selma Caal (COR)
Project Monitor:
Kathleen McCoy
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). We are requesting one year of approval.
Progress to Date: In November 2017, the Administration for Children and Families received approval for data collection related to Local Evaluations as part of the Personal Responsibility Education Program: Promising Youth Programs (PREP: PYP) project (OMB #0970-0504). The goal of the interviews and focus groups with youth included in that data collection was to inform the selection of target populations to adapt curricula for underserved population to address sexual health and other PREP-related priorities. As a result, a curriculum on internet safety was adapted for youth with intellectual disabilities (IDD).
Description of Request: This data collection is necessary for ACF to collect feedback on the implementation of the adapted two-lesson curriculum for youth with IDD. The following types of data will be collected: (1) student knowledge of internet safety, (2) student engagement in the two classrooms receiving the curriculum, (3) the extent that facilitator guidance is clear, (4) and the recommendations that facilitators and youth make to modify the curriculum. These data will be collected through fidelity logs, facilitator interviews, and youth focus groups or interviews.
We do not intend for this information to be used as the principal basis for public policy decisions.
Time Sensitivity: Data collection for youth with IDD needs to be completed prior to the start of the 2022-2023 school year.
A1. Necessity for Collection
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) oversees the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP), which comprises several teen pregnancy prevention programs. ACF’s Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) administers PREP programs, and ACF’s Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) collaborates with FYSB to conduct PREP research and evaluation efforts. To support PREP programming, ACF funded the PREP Promising Youth Programs (PREP: PYP) project. PREP: PYP included formative research through literature reviews, discussions with federal staff (including the Children’s Bureau and FYSB), focus groups, and interviews to identify populations not well served by current sexual health curricula. Formative findings suggested that there was a gap in curricula targeting internet safety for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). This population is served by PREP programming and once finalized, the adapted curricula will be available for use by PREP grantees to implement and better serve youth with IDD.
This data collection is necessary for ACF to collect feedback on the adapted two-lesson curriculum for youth with IDD. The data will be used to refine and finalize the curriculum adaptation to ensure the curriculum is accessible and appropriate for youth with IDD served by PREP grantees. The adapted curriculum ultimately will be used to inform future training and technical assistance, as well as targeted assistance provided to PREP grantees that serve youth with IDD. Mathematica, Inc. is the contractor.
Legal or Administrative Requirements that Necessitate the Collection
There are no legal or administrative requirements that necessitate the 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):
Planning for the provision of programmatic technical assistance
Delivery of targeted assistance related to program implementation
The purpose of the information collection is to inform an adaptation of an Internet safety curriculum designed for the general population that is being adapted to be developmentally appropriate for youth with IDD. The data will be used to refine and finalize the adaptation to ensure it is appropriate for youth with IDD who are served by ACF grantees. Findings from the data collection will also be shared in a report and journal article that outlines the process for adapting the curriculum, the formative findings from the data analysis, and best practices for entities implementing the adapted curriculum, such as state agencies, federal grantees, or schools. The report will discuss limitations of the data and include information on how to interpret the qualitative and quantitative data to help both PREP grantees, as well as the general public, understand how to implement the curriculum.
Once the curriculum is finalized, ACF can use the curriculum as part of their programmatic technical assistance activities at FYSB and the Children’s Bureau. As mentioned above, FYSB’s PREP programming serves youth with IDD. This curriculum is being adapted to help serve this population. Although technical assistance on the adapted curriculum will not be provided directly though this project, once the final curriculum is available ACF can provide it as a resource for grantees to use. For example, the adapted curriculum will ultimately be housed on FYSB’s The Exchange website, which is a resource for current PREP and Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) grantees. FYSB grantees are required to refer youth to needed resources and services, and grantees serving youth with IDD will have access to the adaptation of the Internet safety curriculum as one of the resources to educate youth.
Common Sense Media and Project Zero and the Harvard Graduate School of Education created the Digital Citizenship curriculum for general population youth. This curriculum focuses on educating youth on internet safety. This current effort adapts this curriculum to be applicable for youth with IDD. Following implementation of the adapted IDD curriculum by facilitators, the data collection will focus on gathering data on students with IDDs’ knowledge of Internet safety, comprehension of the lesson content, student engagement in the lessons, the extent that facilitator guidance is clear, and the modifications facilitators and youth recommend making to the lessons. These data will be collected through fidelity logs, facilitator interviews, and youth focus groups or interviews.
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.
Research Questions
The study will address four research questions:
Did the adapted lessons, as delivered, increase the knowledge of youth related to Internet safety?
Did the adapted lessons, as delivered, engage youth and convey relevant information related to Internet Safety?
Do the lesson plans provide clear guidance to facilitators on how to implement the lessons? What could be clarified, expanded, or updated?
What modifications are needed before the lessons are finalized for dissemination?
Study Design
Other Data Sources and Uses of Information
This request is related to other information collection activities for the Local Evaluations as part of the Personal Responsibility Education Program: Promising Youth Programs (PREP: PYP) project (OMB #0970-0504; approved November 9, 2017). This request builds on the work completed through those activities.
A3. Use of Information Technology to Reduce Burden
To reduce potential burden from in-person data collection for the youth focus groups, sites will have the option to have youth attend the focus groups virtually. Fidelity logs will be completed by facilitators using a short online form so that they do not need to keep track of and mail paper fidelity logs. Parental consent will occur using an online consent form which will reduce the burden of distributing and returning paper consent forms.
A4. Use of Existing Data: Efforts to reduce duplication, minimize burden, and increase utility and government efficiency
ACF has carefully reviewed the information collection requirements to avoid duplication with existing studies or other ongoing federal curriculum adaptation efforts. The qualitative and quantitative information collected by fidelity logs, interviews and focus groups is uniquely poised to provide ACF with detailed information to refine the curriculum adaptation, which has not yet been implemented or studied.
A5. Impact on Small Businesses
Small, nonprofit community-based organizations (CBOs) may deliver the Internet safety lessons to youth with IDD. To reduce burden for the CBO staff, the study team will assume the full burden of data collection.
A6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection
We are only collecting data from youth at one time point, after the curriculum is delivered. For up to sixteen facilitators, we are collecting data three times. Two of the time points are for the facilitators to complete fidelity logs. Only collecting fidelity log data from one lesson instead of both would limit the government’s ability to refine lesson content and facilitator instructions and guidance across both lessons that were adapted. We are conducting only one interview each with facilitator.
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.
ACF and Mathematica consulted with experts on the curriculum adaptation. We consulted three special education teachers; staff from Common Sense Media, the developer; and one additional programmatic expert on the needs of youth with IDD provided feedback on how to adapt specific activities to best meet the needs of youth with IDD.
A9. Tokens of Appreciation
We are not proposing tokens of appreciation for youth or teachers.
A10. Privacy: Procedures to protect privacy of information, while maximizing data sharing
Personally Identifiable Information
On the parental consent form, name and email and phone numbers will be recorded as part of the consenting process but will be stored separately from the focus group data in a secure drive. An email address and phone number are needed for outreach through reminder emails and texts to focus group participants’ parents. On the youth assent and over 18 consent forms name will be collected. Personally identifiable information (PII) will not be collected during the focus groups. At the beginning of the focus groups, participants will be instructed to only use their first names. Facilitator’s names, email and phone numbers will also be recorded to facilitate collection of the fidelity log data and scheduling the facilitator interview but will be stored separately from the fidelity log and interview data in a secure drive. Each facilitator will be assigned an ID number that they will enter in the fidelity log for identification.
Assurances of Privacy
Information collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. Participants 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.
Recruitment and data collection procedures will incorporate measures for protecting the confidentiality and privacy of participants as well as processes for obtaining informed consent. These procedures will include requiring that focus group participants use only their first names during discussions. In addition, when reporting the results of focus groups, researchers will not identify participants by their real names. Appendices A-D provide the consent and assent forms, containing assurances of privacy, that all participants will read and acknowledge before participating in the data collection.
Data Security and Monitoring
The contractor has developed a Data Safety and Monitoring Plan that assesses all protections of respondents’ information. The contractor will ensure that all of its employees, subcontractors (at all tiers), and employees of each subcontractor who perform work under this contract or subcontract are trained in data privacy issues and comply with the above requirements. All study team staff involved in the project will receive training in (1) limitations of disclosure; (2) safeguarding the physical work environment; and (3) storing, transmitting, and destroying data securely. All Mathematica staff sign the Mathematica Confidentiality Agreement, complete online security awareness training when they are hired, and receive annual refresher training thereafter.
Data collected will be saved on a secure drive only accessible to Mathematica study team members. Any personally identifiable information used to contact respondents will be stored in secure files, separate from other individual-level data.
A11. Sensitive Information
We are not collecting any data on sensitive topics.
A12. Burden
Explanation of Burden Estimates
Table A12 summarizes the estimated reporting burden and costs for each data collection activity. We will collect 2 fidelity logs from up to 24 facilitators. This includes at least one facilitator from each site and up to eight additional aides across sites. Each fidelity log is designed to take 10 minutes to complete. We will also conduct up to 16 1-hour facilitator interviews, with one facilitator per site. The study team will conduct up to 16 focus groups, each containing up to 6 youth participants.1 Each focus group will be designed to last 60 minutes.
Estimated Annualized Cost to Respondents
The average hourly wage rates for facilitators and parents are based on the May 2020 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average hourly wage for facilitators is the “Special Education Teachers, broad” salary. The average hourly wage for parents is the “All Occupations” wage. The average hourly wage rate for youth is the federal minimum wage.
Table A12. Total Burden Requested Under this Information Collection
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 |
Instrument 1: Fidelity logs |
24 |
2 |
.17 |
8 |
$41.202 |
$329.60 |
Instrument 2: Facilitator interviews |
16 |
1 |
1 |
16 |
$41.205 |
$659.20 |
Instrument 3: Post-intervention focus groups (youth) |
96 |
1 |
1 |
96 |
$7.253 |
$696 |
Total |
|
|
|
120 |
|
$1,684.80 |
A13. Costs
There are no additional costs to respondents.
A14. Estimated Annualized Costs to the Federal Government
Table A14 provides the estimates of the annualized costs to the Federal government for the work associated with this Information Collection Request.
Table A14. Estimates of Annualized Costs to the Federal Government
Cost Category |
Estimated Costs |
Site recruitment |
$51,500 |
Support and monitoring of implementation |
$14,500 |
Data collection and analysis |
$55,000 |
Dissemination |
$48,500 |
Total/annual costs over the request period |
$169,500 |
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
The data collection is expected to occur once OMB approval is received, during spring and potentially summer 2022. During this data collection the study team will conduct the focus groups and collect fidelity log data from facilitators. Data analysis and curriculum refinement will take place from three to six months after OMB approval. The goal is to have the adapted curriculum finalized and ready for dissemination by December 2022.
A17. Exceptions
No exceptions are necessary for this information collection.
Attachments
Appendix A: Consent form for parents of youth with IDD
Appendix B: Consent form for youth with IDD over 18
Appendix C: Assent form for youth with IDD participants
Appendix D: Consent for facilitators
Instrument 1: Youth with IDD fidelity log
Instrument 2: Youth with IDD facilitator interview topic guide
Instrument 3: Youth with IDD focus group guide
1 As mentioned above, the study team is open to shifting to youth individual interviews if a facilitator thinks that would be a better approach to data collection with their students. The burden estimate would not change with this shift because the same number of youth will participate in one-hour individual interviews instead of a one-hour focus group.
2 The average hourly wage for facilitators is the “Special Education Teachers, broad” salary from the May 2020 Bureau of Labor Statistics. The calculated wage assumes the salary is paid for 10 months of work at 40 hours a week https://www.bls.gov/oes/2020/may/oes_nat.htm#00-0000.
3 The average hourly wage for youth is the federal minimum wage in the United States. https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/minimumwage
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Mccoy, Kathleen (ACF) (CTR) |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2022-05-09 |