0704-SMFP_SSB_Family Planning FGs_1.15.26

SUPPORTING STATEMENT – PART B

B.  COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

1.  Description of the Activity

The purpose of the data collection effort is to better understand service members experiences with family planning services provided by both DoD and community providers as well as their understanding of recently enacted DoD policies related to access to reproductive health care. This study will highlight areas related to family planning that may threaten DoD’s ability to field a ready and lethal force. It will also point to areas where DoD may need to augment or develop care, programs, services, or policies that provide needed reproductive health care and family planning services to the force in order to maintain and enhance health, readiness, retention, and lethality.

Respondents include approximately 4,800 active duty service members from all service branches (below the rank of flag officer) at 24 CONUS installations. Data will be collected via 60-minute focus group. These focus groups will be in-person, conducted separately by sex (i.e., men vs women) and rank (i.e., E1-E4, E5-E6, E7-E9/W1-W5, O1-O3, O4-O5, O6). Each group will be led by one facilitator and include one notetaker. Consent will be obtained verbally at the beginning of each session, and each participant will receive an information sheet containing the consent information. A recruitment flyer will be used to assist installation POCs with recruitment. Focus group topics include family planning services, contraception and contraceptives, fertility and infertility, pregnancy, and abortion services.

Below is the proposed sample size by pay grade and sex. As these are focus groups, response rates do not apply.

Pay Grade	Sex	Number
E1-E4	Male	480
E1-E4	Female	480
O1-O3	Male	480
O1-O3	Female	480
E5-E6	Male	480
E5-E6	Female	480
O4-O5	Male	480
O4-O5	Female	480
E7-E9/W1-W5	Male	240
E7-E9/W1-W5	Female	240
O6	Male	240
O6	Female	240
Total		4,800

2.  Procedures for the Collection of Information

Focus groups will be conducted separately for men and women, officers and enlisted, and by rank (junior, mid-level, and senior). There is a total of four focus group protocols: junior enlisted/officer (E1-E4; O1-O3) and mid-level/senior enlisted/officer (E5-E6;E7-E9/W1-W5; O4-O5; O6). These focus groups are intended to be 60 minutes. In total, we anticipate including:

• Jr. Enlisted (E1-E4)/Jr. Officers (O1-O3): up to 1,920 individuals

• Mid-Level Leaders (E5-E6/O4-O5): up to 1,920 individuals

• Senior Level Leaders (E7-E9/W1-W5; O6): up to 960 individuals

Focus groups will be held across 24 CONUS installations. These installations cover all DoD branches of service and were selected using a geographic spoke-and-hub approach, allowing for a single trip to cover multiple nearby installations. The geographic areas include California/Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Virginia/North Carolina, Texas, and Florida.

Each installation will have a RAND team on the ground for one full day and during that day, the team will complete 20 focus groups: Male E1-E4 (2), Female E1-E4 (2), Male E5-E9/W1-W5 (2), Female E5-E6 (2), Male E7-E9/W1-W5 (1), Female E7-E9 (1), O1-O3 (2), Female O1-O3 (2), Male O4-O5 (2), Female O4-O5(2), Male O6 (1), Female O6 (1).

At an installation, participants will be randomly selected with the help of an installation POC based on their 1) sex, 2) officer/enlisted status, and 3) pay grade. The analysis strategy will rely on variation across these different groups to better understand service members’ experiences with and use of reproductive health services and their understanding of recently enacted DoD policies.

3.  Maximization of Response Rates, Non-response, and Reliability

Qualitative data from the focus groups will be analyzed using a commercial-off-the-shelf software designed for qualitative data (e.g., NVivo). We will upload transcribed notes from focus groups into the qualitative software program for coding. A codebook will be developed using an iterative process to further refine the codebook for coding of the interview data using a thematic analysis. A preliminary set of transcripts will be coded to identify any emerging themes and explore the need for creating new codes. Following refinement of the codebook, we will code the remainder of the transcripts, using a joint coding approach in which each coder independently codes each transcript once inter-rater reliability is established. We will use a thematic analysis to identify emerging themes and patterns across the data. We do not anticipate reporting numbers (e.g., percentages) that could be interpreted as prevalence rates, but we will use frequencies to identify the most commonly mentioned themes to present in the final report.

4.  Tests of Procedures

Focus group protocols and study procedures were reviewed by roughly six Army and Air Force fellows at RAND. These fellows are active-duty service members who spend a year at RAND and are generally between the ranks of O3 and O6. In addition to written feedback, we also held a group discussion with the full research team and the fellows.

5.  Statistical Consultation and Information Analysis

No additional consultation apart from soliciting public comments through the Federal Register was conducted for this submission.