[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 85 (Monday, May 3, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24160-24161]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-9935]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-04-48]


Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

    In compliance with the requirement of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 for opportunity for public comment on 
proposed data collection projects, the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC) will publish periodic summaries of proposed projects. 
To request more information on the proposed projects or to obtain a 
copy of the data collection plans and instruments, call the CDC Reports 
Clearance Officer on (404) 498-1210.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology. Send comments to Sandra Gambescia, CDC 
Assistant Reports Clearance Officer, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-E11, 
Atlanta, GA 30333. Written comments should be received within 60 days 
of this notice.

Proposed Project

    The Minority HIV/AIDS Research Initiative: Access to HIV Care and 
Testing in the Rural South--New--The National Center for HIV, STD, and 
TB Prevention (NCHSTP), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
(CDC).

Background

    CDC is requesting from Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a 3 
year approval to administer a survey to local health departments and 
testing sites. As part of the Minority HIV/AIDS Research Initiative 
(MARI), CDC is funding a study that examines access to HIV care and 
testing in the rural South. The objectives of the study are twofold: 
(1) Determine the local availability of HIV counseling and testing, and 
identify HIV treatment venues (HIV doctor or clinic) in non-urban 
counties in the South, and (2) provide information to improve the 
availability of testing and treatment in the South.
    Identifying barriers to accessing care in the South is relevant to 
selected goals and objectives in the CDC's ``HIV Prevention Strategic 
Plan Through 2005''. This plan identifies the goal to increase from the 
current estimated 70% to 95% the proportion of HIV-infected people in 
the United States who know they are infected through voluntary 
counseling and testing. CDC plans to meet this goal by: (1) Increasing 
the motivation of at-risk individuals to know their infection status 
and decrease real and perceived barriers to HIV testing; and (2) 
improve access to voluntary, client-centered counseling and testing 
(VCT) in high seroprevalence communities and populations at risk, 
focusing particularly on populations with high rates of undiagnosed 
infection. This study is relevant to the goals of CDC's Strategic Plan 
for 2005 and the Advancing HIV Prevention Initiative (AHP) to reduce 
barriers to HIV testing that impede those at risk from receiving HIV 
prevention services. Moreover, this study compliments the AHP by 
providing the local service systems with a current visual depiction of 
HIV testing barriers in rural counties that will help address 
programming concerns to ultimately improve access to HIV testing and 
prevention services.
    A sample from 325 counties will be selected from ten U.S. Southern 
states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia). Census Bureau 
Statistical Area data was used to identify 325 rural counties within 
the 10 Southern states that meet the definition of a non-metropolitan 
statistical area and/or cluster with a population of less than 50,000. 
There will be two phases to the survey of the rural counties. The first 
phase will be based on quantitative survey design, while the second 
will use qualitative face-to-face, one-on-one interviewing techniques.
    During the initial phase, the following will be contacted and 
surveyed from each county: (a) Local Health Department; (b) two HIV 
testing & counseling venues; and (c) two HIV treatment sites. This will 
result in a total of 1,000 contacts on a one time basis. To help reduce 
burden, respondents will be interviewed by survey over the telephone 
using a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) technology. 
Telephone surveys will take approximately fifteen minutes to complete, 
and will be limited to the absolute minimum number of questions 
required for the intended use of the data.
    Using purposive sampling techniques in which respondents will be 
selected because of some county characteristic, 20 county 
representatives will be selected for a one time in-depth qualitative 
interview. These in-person audio-taped interviews will explore HIV 
testing and treatment issues using open-ended questions to help provide 
important details for clarifying, or illustrating survey results. No 
personal identifiers will be collected for these interviews. Audio-
tapes and resulting transcripts will be treated in a confidential 
manner, unless otherwise compelled by the law. It will take 
approximately two hours to complete the interview. Therefore, the total 
burden hours for collecting this data will be 290 hours.
    CDC has contracted this study to an Alliance Quality Education 
organization to provide support costs for data collection and analysis. 
There is no cost to respondents except for their time.

[[Page 24161]]



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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
                   Respondents                       Number of     responses per   response  (in   Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent         hrs.)           hours
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Telephone Survey................................            2275               1           15/60             569
Qualitative Interviews..........................              20               1               2              40
                                                 -----------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............             609
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    Dated: April 23, 2004.
Bill J. Atkinson,
Acting Director, Management Analysis and Services Office, Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 04-9935 Filed 4-30-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P