[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 59 (Wednesday, March 28, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14587-14588]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-5671]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

National Institutes of Health


Proposed Collection; Comment Request; NCCAM Office of 
Communications and Public Liaison Communications Program Planning and 
Evaluation Research

    Summary: 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 National 
Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), at the 
National Institutes of Health (NIH), will publish periodic summaries of 
proposed projects to be submitted to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and approval.

Proposed Collection

    Title: NCCAM Office of Communications and Public Liaison 
Communications Program Planning and Evaluation Research.
    Type of Information Collection Request: Renewal.
    Need and Use of Information Collection: To carry out NCCAM's 
legislative mandate to educate and disseminate information about 
complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to a wide variety of 
audiences and organizations, the NCCAM Office of Communications and 
Public Liaison (OCPL) requests clearance to carry out (1) formative and 
(2) evaluative research of a variety of

[[Page 14588]]

print and online materials, outreach activities, and messages to 
maximize their impact and usefulness.
    OCPL wishes to continue to carry out formative research to further 
understand the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of its core 
constituent groups: members of the general public, researchers, and 
providers of both conventional and CAM health care. In addition, it 
seeks to test newly formulated messages and identify barriers and 
impediments to the effective communication of those messages. With this 
audience research, OCPL will carry out pretesting of audience responses 
to NCCAM's fact sheets, Web content, and other materials and messages.
    Clearance is also requested to continue to carry out evaluative 
research on existing materials and messages, as part of OCPL's ongoing 
effort to develop a comprehensive program of testing and evaluation of 
all of its communications strategies. This evaluative research will 
include pilot testing of recently developed messages and information 
products such as fact sheets and brochures. It will also address the 
need to evaluate the processes by which new materials and messages were 
developed, the effectiveness of an outreach or the extent to which 
behaviors were changed by the message, and the impact of a message on 
health knowledge and behaviors.
    The tools to collect this information have been selected to 
minimize burden on NCCAM's audiences, produce or refine messages that 
have the greatest potential to influence target audience attitudes and 
behavior in a positive manner, and to use Government resources 
efficiently. They may include individual in-depth interviews, focus 
group interviews, intercept interviews, self-administered 
questionnaires, gatekeeper reviews, and omnibus surveys.
    The data will enhance OCPL's understanding of (1) the unique 
information needs and distinct health-information-seeking behaviors of 
its core constituencies, and (2) the segments within these 
constituencies with special information needs (for example, among the 
general public these segments include cancer patients, the chronically 
ill, minority and ethnic populations, the elderly, users of dietary 
supplements, and patients integrating complementary therapies with 
conventional medical treatments).
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Affected Public: Individuals and households; non-profit 
institutions; Federal Government; State, Local, or Tribal Government.
    Type of Respondents: Adult patients; members of the public; health 
care professionals; organizational representations. The annual 
reporting burden is as follows.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 2,440;
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 1;
    Average Burden Hours per Response: 0.29; and
    Estimated Total Burden Hours Requested: 2,137.5 for the 3-year 
clearance period (approximately 712.5 hours annually). The annualized 
cost to respondents is estimated at $21,333. There are no Capital 
Costs, Operating Costs, or Maintenance Costs to report.
    Request for Comments: Written comments and/or suggestions from the 
public and affected agencies are invited on the following points: (1) 
Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the function of the agency, including whether the 
information will have practical utility; (2) The accuracy of the 
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumption 
used; (3) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (4) Ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on those who are to respond, including the 
use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other 
technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    For Further Information Contact: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the data collection plans and 
instruments, contact Christy Thomsen, Director, Office of 
Communications and Public Liaison, NCCAM, 31 Center Drive, Room 2B11, 
Bethesda, MD 20892, or fax your request to 301-402-4741, or e-mail 
[email protected]. Ms. Thomsen can be contacted by telephone at 
301-451-8876.
    Comments Due Date: Comments regarding this information collection 
are best assured of having their full effect if received within 60 days 
of the date of this publication.

    Dated: March 20, 2007.
Christy Thomsen,
Director, Office of Communications and Public Liaison, National Center 
for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of 
Health.
[FR Doc. E7-5671 Filed 3-27-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P