[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 156 (Friday, August 13, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44223-44224]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-20945]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[30 DAY-20-99]
Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a
list of information collection requests under review by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction
Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call
the CDC Reports Clearance Officer at (404) 639-7090. Send written
comments to CDC, Desk Officer; Human Resources and Housing Branch, New
Executive Office Building, Room 10235; Washington, DC 20503. Written
comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.
Proposed Project
The Role of Positive and Negative Emotion in Promoting Hearing
Conservation Behaviors Among Coal Miners--New--The mission of the
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is to
promote ``safety and health at work for all people through research and
prevention.'' NIOSH investigates and identifies occupational safety and
health hazards and conducts a variety of activities, including
educational programs with workers, to help prevent work-related illness
and injury.
One of the most widespread, but often overlooked, occupational
hazards is noise. As a result, hearing loss is the most common
occupational disease in the United States today. More than 30 million
workers are exposed to hazardous noise levels.
The risk of hearing loss is particularly high in certain
occupations. Research shows that more than 90 percent of coal miners
will experience moderate to significant hearing loss by the time they
reach retirement. This level of hearing loss has a number of negative
implications for both the affected individual and others: (1) Impaired
communication with family members, friends, and coworkers can result in
social isolation; (2) Unrelenting tinnitus (ringing in the ears) can
significantly lower one's quality of life; (3) a diminished ability to
monitor the work environment (including warning signals, etc.)
increases the risk of accidents and further injury at the workplace;
and finally, (4) there are economic costs that result from workers
compensation and lower productivity.
NIOSH believes that there are two broad strategies for reducing the
risk of hearing loss. First, wherever possible, engineering controls
have to be implemented at the source of the hazardous noise. Second,
workers have to be educated about hazardous levels of noise and what
they can do to prevent hearing loss. This study falls into the latter
category.
The study is required because past efforts at educating coal miners
about hearing loss have had only mixed success. Hearing loss occurs
without pain or obvious physical abnormalities, so it has been
difficult to create a sense of urgency about this problem among
workers. NIOSH has to identify new and more effective ways of promoting
hearing conservation behaviors.
In this study, NIOSH proposes working with the United Mine Workers
of America, and experts in health communication, to test the
effectiveness of several innovative approaches to communicating risk
and promoting safer behaviors. Different messages will be sent to five
different groups of coal miners. All participants will receive some
beneficial information. The researchers will follow up with these
groups at two different points in time to assess the relative
effectiveness of the messages.
The central purpose of this study is to promote hearing
conservation among coal miners. However, NIOSH believes that the
results of this study will help in similar efforts with other worker
populations. The total burden hours are 340.
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No. of Avg. burden
Respondents No. of responses/ per response
respondents respondent (in hrs.)
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Coal Miners in Pretest.......................................... 80 1 .5
Coal Miners in Study............................................ 300 2 .5
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2. Measurement of Stress and Stressful Life Events in Black Women
of Reproductive Age (0920-0356)--Reinstatement--National Center for
Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. A review of studies of
psycho-social factors and adverse pregnancy outcome supports the
hypothesis that high levels of exposure to stressful life experiences
put black women at increased risk for adverse reproductive outcome,
particularly Pre-Term Delivery (PTD) and Very Low Birth Weight (VLBW).
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the reliability and validity
of existing instruments that measure stress and stressful life events
in black women of reproductive age. Eligible subjects will be black
women who live in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Subjects will be
recruited from flyers, newspaper announcements, hospitals and clinics
in the metropolitan Atlanta area. Subjects will be screened and
selected based on age (18-30 or 31-45 years), years of education (12,
13-15, 16 or more), and pregnancy status (pregnant, not pregnant). A
maximum of thirty women will be selected for each combination of age,
education and pregnancy status. The minimum age for participation will
be 18 to avoid the complications due to requirement of parental
consent. Women will be excluded if they use illicit drugs, such as
heroin, cocaine and marijuana because these substances may alter the
metabolism of cortisol. The contact, timing and spacing of the
interviews and laboratory collection are based on the methodology
developed and used for conducting reliability and validity tests.
Approximately one half of the women will be pregnant at the time of
data collection.
Women enrolled in the study respond to a series of face-to-face and
self-administered demographic and psycho-social questionnaires. Women
are also asked to provide a saliva sample so that we can correlate
reported levels of stress with biological measures of stress.
Participation in this study is voluntary and participants will
receive compensation for their time. A written informed consent will be
obtained and oversight will be provided by local institutional review
board.
This project should take two years. One hundred fifteen (115) women
will
[[Page 44224]]
participate only in the validity study and thirty-nine (39) women will
participate in the validity and reliability study. The validity study
requires one interview and one salivary sample. The reliability study
requires a second interview and a second salivary specimen,
approximately two weeks after the first interview.
During the first three months of the study, the Project Director
will set up the office, hire staff and student assistants and provide
interviewer and data entry training. The Project Director will also
make contacts and explore potential sites for recruiting women for the
study. During the next nine months, all of the interviews
(approximately 115 validity subjects and 39 reliability subjects
remaining) will be conducted and data entry of the quantitative
instruments (i.e., Demographic Lifestyle Questionnaire, Cohen Perceived
Stress Scale, Life Experience Survey (LES), ARIC/BAECKE Questionnaire
of Habitual Physical Activity, Center for Epidemiologic Studies
Depression Scale (CES-D), Profile of Mood States, Multiple Affect
Adjustive Checklist, Speilberger Trait Anxiety Inventory--Self
Evaluation Questionnaire) will be completed. Scoring for the
qualitative instruments (i.e., Structured Event Probe and Narrative
Rating Method (SEPRATE) and Life Events and Difficulties Schedule
(LEDS) will be initiated during year 1, but the bulk of the qualitative
scoring will be completed during Year 2. The data entry of the
qualitative date will be completed during Year 2. Preliminary analyzes
will be conducted during Year 2, with the technical assistance of CDC.
The total burden hours are 579.
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No. of Avg. burden/
Respondents No. of responses/ response (in
respondents respondent hrs.)
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Reliability Study Group......................................... 39 2 3
Validity Study Group............................................ 115 1 3
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Dated: August 9, 1999.
Nancy Cheal,
Acting Associate Director for Policy, Planning and Evaluation Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
[FR Doc. 99-20945 Filed 8-12-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P