[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 211 (Tuesday, November 2, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67374-67375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-27605]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30-Day-11-10CB]


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) 639-5960 or send an e-mail 
to [email protected]. Send written comments to CDC Desk Officer, Office of 
Management and Budget, Washington, DC or by fax to (202) 395-5806. 
Written comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    A Survey to Evaluate Occupational Safety and Health Educational 
Materials for Home Care Workers--New--National Institute for 
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The mission of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and 
Health (NIOSH) is to promote safety and health at work for all people 
through research and prevention. Under Public Law 91-596, Sections 20 
and 22 (section 20-22, Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970); 
NIOSH has the responsibility to conduct research to advance the health 
and safety of workers. In this capacity, NIOSH will conduct a survey of 
home care workers to evaluate newly developed educational intervention 
materials.
    Home care workers who provide housekeeping and routine personal 
care services to elderly, disabled or ill individuals in their homes, 
constitute one of the fastest growing occupational groups, estimated at 
about 1,500,000 workers. In 1997, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 
issued a special report on work-related injuries to home care workers 
showing an injury rate which was 50% higher than that of workers 
employed in the private hospital sector and 70% higher than the overall 
rate for all private industry workers.
    NIOSH has developed educational intervention materials for home 
care workers to prevent exposure to work-related hazards. The 
intervention materials consist of a printed handbook and a training 
session that explains how to use the handbook. The primary goal of the 
handbook and training session is to help home care workers and their 
clients identify hazards, discuss these hazards and identify accessible 
and low cost tips and tools for minimizing exposures to hazards. These 
materials have been developed and piloted in Alameda County, 
California. The goal of this data collection is to evaluate these 
materials before disseminating them more broadly.
    The study population for this survey includes current home care 
workers and their clients who are enrolled in the In-

[[Page 67375]]

Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Program in Alameda County, California.
    NIOSH has obtained input on the content and operational aspects of 
the survey through local stakeholder meetings. The survey instrument 
has been reviewed by subject matter experts and cognitive interviews 
have been conducted using the survey instrument. Input received was 
used to guide development of the survey instrument and plans for survey 
implementation.
    Rather than inviting all 15,000 home care workers to participate 
through a mailing, as was stated in the 60 day notice, instead we will 
recruit participants through a mailing to a stratified random sample of 
5000 current home care workers extracted from the regularly updated 
Alameda County IHSS program employee database. The sample will be 
stratified to reflect approximately equal numbers of English, Spanish 
and Chinese speaking home care workers using the preferred language 
variable included in the employee database. The mailing will include a 
letter explaining the study and an interest response form. Interested 
workers who would like to volunteer to participate in the study will 
complete the interest response form and return it in a self addressed 
envelope to the study contractor. The first 107 home care worker 
volunteers from each of the three language groups (320 total home care 
workers) who return their interest response forms will be randomized in 
equal groups into either an intervention or a control group and will be 
called and enrolled in the study by the survey contractor. The change 
from sending recruitment letters to all 15,000 workers to a more 
targeted recruitment pool of 5,000 English, Spanish, and Chinese 
speakers was made following additional input from our community 
partners. They considered the 5,000 to be sufficient to recruit the 
necessary 320 volunteers.
    The primary client for each home care worker participant will also 
be called by the contractor and invited to participate in the study but 
the clients' willingness to participate will not affect whether a home 
care workers can remain as a study participant. Both the home care 
worker and their primary client will complete a pre- and a post-
intervention telephone survey with a two-month interval between the two 
surveys. Data from the telephone surveys will be captured directly into 
an electronic database. Home care workers in the intervention group 
will receive the intervention materials and training during the 
interval between the pre and the post surveys. Home care workers in the 
control group will receive the intervention materials and training 
after the completion of the post survey. Each telephone survey will 
last approximately 30 minutes for home care workers and 15 minutes for 
clients. Because of the demographics of the population intervention 
materials as well as the evaluation surveys are in three languages: 
English, Spanish and Chinese.
    Information will be collected on demographic variables including 
age, sex, race, education, income, primary language, and marital 
status. Information will be collected on the number of years a worker 
has been employed as a home care worker and the number of years a 
client has received home care services. Information will also be 
collected on working conditions and occupational exposures, work 
related injuries, knowledge of work-related health risks and workers' 
perception of the ease of controlling hazards. Finally, information 
will be collected from workers on their job satisfaction and clients on 
their satisfaction with caregiver services, on the quality of the 
caregiver and client relationships, and specific questions regarding 
use of the intervention materials.
    The purpose of this information collection is to evaluate whether 
or not the educational materials (the Home Care Worker Handbook and 
training session) are effective in (1) conveying the intended message 
and (2) encouraging home care workers and their clients to make changes 
to reduce hazards. Without benefit of the evaluation, CDC will be 
unable to determine the effectiveness of the materials or formulate 
recommendations on their appropriate use and broader dissemination.
    Once the study is completed, results will be made available via 
various means including the NIOSH internet site. NIOSH expects to 
complete data collection no later than spring of 2011. There is no cost 
to respondents other than their time.
    The total estimated annual burden hours are 842.

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                                                                                                      Average
                                                                     Number of       Number of      burden per
          Type of respondent                    Form name           respondents   responses  per   response  (in
                                                                                     respondent       hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Home care workers.....................  Home care worker                     500               1            5/60
                                         interest response form.
                                        Home care worker pre                 320               1           30/60
                                         survey.
                                        Home care worker                     320               1               1
                                         training program.
                                        Home care worker post                320               1           30/60
                                         survey.
Home care clients.....................  Client pre survey.......             320               1           15/60
                                        Client post survey                   320               1           15/60
                                         (post).
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    Dated: October 27, 2010.
Carol Walker,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2010-27605 Filed 11-1-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P