[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 148 (Tuesday, August 3, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46545-46546]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-17617]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-04-0572]


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, or to send comments 
contact Sandi Gambescia, CDC Assistant Reports Clearance Officer, 1600 
Clifton Road, MS-E11, Atlanta, GA 30333 or send an e-mail to 
[email protected].
    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. Written comments should be received 
within 60 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    CDC and ATSDR Health Message Testing System Status--Revision--
Office of the Director, Office of Communication (OD/OC), Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention (CDC) protects people's health and safety by preventing 
and controlling diseases and injuries; promotes healthy living through 
strong partnerships with local, national and international 
organizations, and enhances health decisions by providing credible 
information on critical health issues.
    Members of the public and health practitioners at all levels 
require up-to-date, credible information about health and safety in 
order to make rational decisions. Such information affects the health 
and well-being of people across all stages of life by making our food 
supply safe, identifying harmful behaviors, and improving our 
environment.
    CDC, and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry 
(ATSDR), must fulfill their mission and mandate to frequently 
communicate urgent and sensitive health messages with the general 
public, members of the public with certain diseases or disabling 
conditions, and those at a greater risk of exposure to disease or 
injury causing agents. CDC/ATSDR makes this crucial health information 
available through many channels including books, periodicals, and 
monographs; internet web sites; health and safety guidelines; reports 
from investigations and emergency responses; public health monitoring 
and statistics; travel advisories; answers to public inquiries; and 
health education campaigns.
    In addition to serving the public, CDC/ATSDR delivers health 
information that enables health providers to make critical decisions. 
For instance, the practicing medical and dental communities and the 
nation's health care providers are target audiences for numerous 
official CDC recommendations concerning the diagnosis and treatment of 
disease, immunization schedules, infection control, and clinical 
prevention practices. CDC/ATSDR offers technical assistance and 
training to health professionals as well.

[[Page 46546]]

    In order to ensure that the public and other key audiences, like 
health care providers, understand the information, are motivated to 
take action, and are not offended or react negatively to the messages * 
* * it is critical to test messages and materials prior to their 
production and release. Currently, each CDC program developing health 
messages is required to submit its message development and testing 
activities for individual OMB review. Many CDC programs have extremely 
short deadlines for developing and producing health messages. Some 
deadlines are imposed by Congress, and others are necessitated by the 
time-sensitive nature of the work. Many programs cannot accommodate the 
time required for OMB approval, and therefore skip the message testing 
step altogether, or resort to testing specific portions of messages 
with 9 or fewer individuals. The science of health communication does 
not support these programmatic practices. In fact, these undesirable 
alternatives weaken CDC/ATSDR position as a research-based public 
health agency providing credible health information that people can 
count on and use.
    CDC may achieve a greater level of efficacy if it can use three 
routine health message development and testing methods: (1) Central 
Location Intercept Interviews (i.e. ``shopping mall'' interviews); (2) 
Customer Satisfaction Phone Interviews; (3) Focus Groups; and (4) Web-
enabled research. Virtually every Center, Institute, and Office (CIO) 
at CDC could achieve a higher level of confidence that health messages 
were understandable and would provoke no unintended consequences if 
they were empowered to use these methods efficiently. The CDC Office of 
Communication therefore requests approval for renewal of the Health 
Message Testing System that will conduct up to 64 message testing 
activities per year for each of three years. If all 64 testing 
activities are implemented, total respondent burden per year is 
estimated at 3200 hours.

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                                                                                      Average
                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per     Total burden
            Form of research activity               respondents    responses per   response  (in       hours
                                                                    respondent         hrs.)
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Central Location Intercept Interviews...........            1600               1           30/60             800
Customer Satisfaction Phone Interviews..........            1200               1           30/60             600
Focus Groups....................................            1200               1           30/60             600
Web-enabled Research............................            2400               1           30/60            1200
                                                 -----------------
    Total.......................................           6,400  ..............  ..............           3,200
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    Dated: July 27, 2004.
Alvin Hall,
Director, Management Analysis and Services Office, Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 04-17617 Filed 8-2-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P