[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 189 (Thursday, September 29, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60498-60499]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-25007]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-11-0572]


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) 395-6974. 
Written comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Health Message Testing System (OMB No. 0920-0572, Exp. 11/31/
2011)--Revision--Office of the Associate Director for Communication, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    Before CDC disseminates a health message to the public, the message 
always undergoes scientific review. However, even though the message is 
based on sound scientific content, there is no guarantee that the 
public will understand a health message or that the message will move 
people to take recommended action. Communication theorists and 
researchers agree that for health messages to be as clear and 
influential as possible, target audience members or representatives 
must be involved in developing the messages and provisional versions of 
the messages must be tested with members of the target audience.
    However, increasingly there are circumstances when CDC must move 
swiftly to protect life, prevent disease, or calm public anxiety. 
Health message testing is even more important in these instances, 
because of the critical nature of the information need.
    CDC receives a mandate from Congress with a tight deadline for 
communicating with the public about a specific topic. For example, 
Congress gave CDC 120 days to develop and test messages for a public 
information campaign about Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that can 
cause stomach ulcers and increase cancer risk if an infected individual 
is not treated with antibiotics.
    In the interest of timely health message dissemination, many 
programs forgo the important step of testing messages on dimensions 
such as clarity, salience, appeal, and persuasiveness (i.e., the 
ability to influence behavioral intention). Skipping this step avoids 
the delay involved in the standard OMB review process, but at a high 
potential cost. Untested messages can waste communication resources and 
opportunities because the messages can be perceived as unclear or 
irrelevant. Untested messages can also have unintended consequences, 
such as jeopardizing the credibility of Federal health officials.
    The Health Message Testing System (HMTS), a generic information 
collection, will enable programs across CDC to collect the information 
they require in a timely manner to:
     Ensure quality and prevent waste in the dissemination of 
health information by CDC to the public.
     Refine message concepts and to test draft materials for 
clarity, salience, appeal, and persuasiveness to target audiences.
     Guide the action of health communication officials who are 
responding to health emergencies, Congressionally-mandated campaigns 
with short timeframes, media-generated public concern, time-limited 
communication opportunities, trends, and the need to refresh materials 
or dissemination strategies in an ongoing campaign.
    Each testing instrument will be based on specific health issues or 
topics. Although it is not possible to develop one instrument for use 
in all instances, the same kinds of questions are asked in most message 
testing. This package includes generic questions and formats that can 
used to develop health message testing data collection instruments. 
These include a list of screening questions, comprised of demographic 
and introductory questions, along with other questions that can be used 
to create a mix of relevant questions for each proposed message testing 
data collection method. However, programs may request to use additional 
questions if needed.
    Message testing questions will focus on issues such as 
comprehension, impressions, personal relevance, content and wording, 
efficacy of response, channels, and spokesperson/sponsor. Such 
information will enable message developers to enhance the effectiveness 
of messages for intended audiences.
    Data collection methods proposed for HMTS include intercept 
interviews, telephone interviews, focus groups, online surveys, and 
cognitive interviews. In almost all instances, data will be collected 
by outside organizations under contract with CDC.
    There is no cost to the respondents other than their time. The 
total estimated annualized burden hours are 2,470.

[[Page 60499]]



                                  Table A12A--Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of       Number of    Average burden
                     Data collection methods                        respondents    responses per   per response
                                                                    per method      respondent      (in hours)
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Central Location Intercept Interviews, Telephone Interviews,              18,525               1            8/60
 Individual In-depth Interview (Cognitive Interviews), Focus
 Group Screenings, Focus Groups, Online Surveys.................
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    Dated: September 19, 2011.
Daniel Holcomb,
Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2011-25007 Filed 9-28-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P