Session Overview

OMB No.
Exp. Date

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Refining Messaging for Seated Infant Products
Focus Group Discussion Guide
Objective: The objective of this focus group study is to develop warning labels for non-sleep
products that are used by caregivers for their infants. The study will explore messaging for
inclusion within existing warning labels on seated infant products that alert caregivers to the
hazards of infants sleeping in seated products and that addresses moving the infant to a
safe sleep environment. These findings will support the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) staff’s recommendations to voluntary standards organizations
regarding sleep messaging.

This discussion guide is not a script and, therefore, will not be read verbatim. The moderator will use
these questions as a road map and will probe, as needed, to maintain the natural flow of
conversation. Question probes are italicized.
Moderator instructions are highlighted in yellow. Materials are highlighted in green.

Session Overview: Total time—90 minutes
SECTION I: Introduction and Icebreaker (5 min.)
The moderator will explain the purpose of the focus group, present the ground rules, and allow participants
to ask any questions.
SECTION II: Infant Sleep Safety: Baseline Knowledge and Awareness (10 min.)
The moderator will ask participants questions to get a sense of their baseline awareness, knowledge,
attitudes, and beliefs about infant sleep safety and associated warning labels.
SECTION III: Product Interaction (25 min.)
The moderator will ask participants to interact with the seated infant products, including a bouncer, swing,
rocker, and carrier. Participants will fill out a worksheet to record feedback.
SECTION IV: Seated Infant Product Warning Label Testing and General Safety (30 min.)
The moderator will have participants review the current seated infant product warning labels, complete a
worksheet, and answer questions about how clear, resonant, persuasive, believable, and motivating the
statements are.
SECTION V: Warning Label Recommendations (15 min.)
The moderator will ask participants to provide recommendations and feedback on the warning labels, as
well as ideas for how the labels could be improved. The moderator will also ask questions about the safety
of seated infant products, as well as participants’ general knowledge about warning labels.
SECTION VI: Closing (5 min.)
The moderator will ensure that all questions are answered and that all comments have been heard.

2

Research Questions:
1) How do caregivers choose sleep products for young infants?
2) What do caregivers know about the safety of young infants who sleep in seated products based on their own
experiences or what they have heard or observed from others?
3) What are caregivers’ perceptions of the threat to young infants of sleeping in seated products?
4) What do caregivers perceive as the costs and benefits of not letting young infants sleep in seated products?
5) How clear, resonant, persuasive, believable, and motivating are the current messages recommended by the
ASTM’s F15 Ad Hoc Language task group that caregivers should “stay near and watch child during use” and that
“this product is not safe for unsupervised use or unattended sleep”?

Section I: Introduction and Icebreaker (5 min.)

3

Thank you so much for coming today. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. My name
is
, and I’ll be moderating this group. I work for a company called Fors Marsh Group,
which is a private research company based in Arlington, VA.
I am conducting this group on behalf of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
(CPSC); but I do not work for them, so I have no stake in how you respond.
The purpose of this group is to get your feedback on some potential messaging strategies for
seated infant product warning labels.
Before we get started, I would like to review a few ground rules:
1. There are no wrong answers. Our whole purpose for being here is to hear what you
honestly think. So please speak up, especially if what you have to say is different than
what someone else is saying. You may represent what a lot of other people who aren’t
here think.
2. We are not here to come to an agreement, and we recognize that you all may have
different perspectives on the issues we discuss. And that’s okay! Please keep an open
mind as we talk today and respect each other’s opinions.
3. We are audio and video recording this discussion so that I don’t have to worry about
writing everything down. These audio recordings will be used to create transcriptions
of the focus group to be analyzed for our report. However, we will not be including any
names or other identifying information in the transcripts, and the recordings will be
deleted once the transcripts are created.
4. Everything we talk about here is confidential; your individual responses will not be
linked back to you in any way, and your name will not be associated with anything you
say in our reports. On that note, we ask that you (1) only use your first names during
the group today, and (2) not discuss anything we talk about today outside of this room.
Does anyone have any questions?
5. Your participation is voluntary. This means that you do not have to answer a question
if you do not wish to, and you may stop participating at any time. Also, you do not have
to disclose any information that you are uncomfortable sharing. If someone shares
something personal, or expresses an opinion that you disagree with, we ask that you
please remain respectful of one another, even when voicing your own differing
opinions. At the end of today’s session, we will provide some resources to you for your
own information.
Now, I’d like to kick us off with some introductions. Let’s go around the room. Please
share your name and your favorite thing to do with your [child/grandchild].

4

Section II: Infant Sleep Safety: Baseline Knowledge and Awareness (10 min.)
As I mentioned, today we are going to talk about infant sleep safety warnings. To kick off our
discussion, I’d like to do a couple of exercises with you all.
1. What are some products in which you put your infants to sleep? [Moderator writes down
the products name]
2. What are some seated infant products that infants might fall asleep in that are not cribs,
bassinets (or any other mentioned in (1) above)? [MODERATOR NOTE: You can give examples of
swings, bouncers, and carriers after asking participants what comes to mind/if they ask for an
example.]
Tell me about a time when you have considered letting your child sleep in one of these
products.
• [PROBE}: What were some of the benefits of letting your child sleep in that product?
Some of the drawbacks?
• [PROBE}: Under what circumstances are you most likely to consider letting your
child sleep in one of these products?
3. So, imagine that you are considering purchasing some seated infant products for your new infant
like a swing, bouncer, or stroller/carrier, what are some of the main criteria you would consider
before making the purchase?
What do you think other parents do?
Have you gotten advice from other parents?
4. Have you had any experiences when your infant has fallen asleep in a seated infant product?
[PROBE]: If yes, what did you do?
[PROBE]: What are your thoughts about the safety of seated infant products for your infant?

Section III: Product Interaction (25 min.)

5

Great, thanks for all your input. This leads us into the next activity for today. We are now going
to have you interact with products that infants might fall asleep in, but the manufacturer does
not intend this product for sleep. You may own or have seen some of these items. They are a
bouncer, swing, rocker, and carrier. We will also be using a doll to interact with the products.
I ask that you interact with these products in the way that you naturally would or that you would
want to if you are trying to decide whether to buy or use these products. You may use the doll
to see how a baby would fit. Think about all the ways you may choose to use the product; for
example, when the baby is sitting, playing, or sleeping. Once you’ve had the chance to interact
with each product, please come back to the table, and we will discuss the experience.
[Moderator’s note: We will adjust the room and health precautions based on current CDC
recommendations. Safety strategies may include asking participants to use hand sanitizer before and
after interacting, wearing masks, using latex gloves, and socially distancing the products throughout
the room.]
Questions to ask after participants interact with the products:
All Products:
5. Have you interacted with these products before today? Tell me about that.
• [PROBE]: Tell me about what you’re doing when your infant is in one of these seats.
 [PROBE]: Do your responses differ based on the product?
6. What are some positive attributes of the products for infant sleep?
 [PROBE]: Negative attributes?
 [PROBE]: Probe on each product
7. What features of the product may lead an infant to sleep in it?
 [PROBE]: Softness, curvature, incline?
 Other reasons (convenient)
 [PROBE]: Probe on each product
8. What features of the product may lead to a parent letting an infant sleep in it?

6
Thank you, it was great hearing about your thoughts and experiences interacting with each of
these products. Now, I’m going to ask you some general questions about infant sleep.
9. If someone were to let their baby fall asleep or stay asleep in one of these products, what do
you think would happen?
 [PROBE]: How likely do you think that outcome would be?
 Have you heard of any injuries with one of these products?
As you may or may not have seen, all these products have warning labels that tell people
what to do and what not to do to avoid unsafe situations when using these products.
10. How many people noticed at least one of these warning labels? [Moderator counts
hands]
 [PROBE]: How many people took time to read the warning labels? [Moderator
counts hands]

7

Section IV: Seated Infant Product Warning Label Testing and General Safety (30 min.)
We are now going to look at an example product warning label for a seated infant product.
[Moderator passes around printouts of warning label.] So, for the purpose of today’s discussion,
when I say warning label, this is what I am generally referring to. I am going to pass around a
worksheet that I am going to have you fill out after reading the product warning label. Please
take a minute to look this label worksheet over and fill out the worksheet with the questions.
[Moderator: Give participants a minute to look at the warning label and to fill out the
worksheet.]

Figure 1: Infant rocker warning label
Worksheet:
11. What are your initial reactions after reviewing this warning label?
 [PROBE]: What is the main idea of this warning label?
12. What are some things you like about this warning label?
 [PROBE]: What does this warning label want you to do?
13. What do you not like about this warning label?
14. How, if at all, does this warning label influence your intentions to let your child nap in this product?
15. What do you think of the phrase “stay near and watch child during use”?
 [PROBE]: What, if anything, was confusing or unclear about this phrase?
 [PROBE]: What do you think this phrase means?
 What action would you take, if any?
16. What about the phrase “This product is not safe for unsupervised use or unattended
sleep”?
 [PROBE]: Is there anything confusing or unclear about this phrase?
 [PROBE]: What do you think this phrase means?
 What action would you take, if any?

•
•

What does “unsupervised use” mean?
What does “unattended sleep” mean?

17. If someone were to ask you to show them a warning label for one of these seated infant
products, where would you look? Where would you like to see it?
18. What colors, images, or other visuals would you expect to see on one of these warning
labels for seated infant products?

8

Section V: Warning Label Recommendations (15 min.)

9

We are now going to talk through some recommendations that you all have for changes to the
wording of this warning label, with the goal of encouraging parents not to let their infant sleep
unattended in these products. I would like you to turn back to the worksheet we completed earlier. I’d
like you to imagine that we are going to be developing a new warning label to place on a product that
is not meant for sleep but that your child might fall asleep in.
20. Please write down any words or phrases you think would fit well for this warning label.

What words or phrases would be on it? What phrases or words would really grab your
attention?
Now, we are going to talk about some of the things you wrote. Who is willing to share?
21. What edits or changes would you make to the wording of this warning label?

•

What words or phrases would you add or remove?

22. What words or phrases would grab your attention?
23. What words or phrases would make you more willing to read this warning label?
24. What words or phrases would make parents less likely to let their infants sleep in these

products?
• [PROBE] Any image, pictures, or symbols

1

Section VI: Closing (5 min.)
[TIME PERMITTING: MODERATOR FALSE CLOSE] I appreciate your feedback. Before
we wrap up, I am going to consult with my colleagues to see if there is anything I
missed or if there are any follow-up questions. [ASK ANY ADDITIONAL PROBES]
[THANK AND CLOSE] Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today and for
participating in this focus group.
Do you have any questions for me or is there anything that you would like to share
that you didn’t have the chance to share yet?
Before you go, I do want to let you know that the products you saw and interacted
with today were not intended for infant sleep by the manufacturer because they are
not firm flat surfaces. Infants should sleep in specifically designated sleep products
such as cribs, bassinets, bedside sleepers, and play yards. We have a couple
resources here about infant sleep safety if you are interested in learning more.
Thank you again for your participation. Enjoy the remainder of your day.

GROUP ID:
PARTICIPANT ID:

CPSC Seated Infant Product Warning
Label Worksheet

1. does this warning label want you to do or not do?
1.) What

2. Aspects of the warning label that you like:

3. Aspects of the warning label that you do not like:

4. Anything confusing or unclear about this warning label:

5. Suggestions for improvements to the warning label:

OMB#:
Expiration: