[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 114 (Friday, June 13, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33924-33925]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-13825]



[[Page 33924]]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60-Day-14-14AHH]


Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of 
its continuing effort to reduce public burden, invites the general 
public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment 
on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. To request more information on the 
below proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information 
collection plan and instruments, call 404-639-7570 or send comments to 
Leroy Richardson, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, GA 30333 or send 
an email to [email protected].
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) approval. 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; (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; and (e) 
estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information. Burden 
means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by 
persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide information 
to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review 
instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and 
systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and verifying 
information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and 
providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to 
a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and 
review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise 
disclose the information. Written comments should be received within 60 
days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Assessing Education Agency Staff Perceptions of School Climate and 
Youth Access to Services--New--Division of Adolescent and School Health 
(DASH), National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB 
Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    HIV infections remain high among young men who have sex with men 
(YMSM). The estimated number of new HIV infections increased between 
2008 and 2010 both overall and among MSM ages 13 to 24. Furthermore, 
sexual risk behaviors associated with HIV, other sexually transmitted 
disease (STD), and pregnancy often emerge in adolescence. For example, 
2011 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) data revealed 
47.4% of U.S. high school students reported having had sex, and among 
those who had sex in the previous three months, 39.8% reported having 
not used a condom during last sexual intercourse. In addition, 2001-
2009 YRBSS data revealed high school students identifying as gay, 
lesbian, and bisexual and those reporting sexual contact with both 
males and females were more likely to engage in sexual risk-taking 
behaviors than heterosexual students.
    Given the disproportionate risk for HIV among YMSM ages 13-24, it 
is important to find ways to reach the younger youth (i.e., ages 13-19) 
in this range to decrease sexual risk behaviors and increase health-
promoting behaviors such as routine HIV testing. Schools provide one 
opportunity for this. Because schools enroll more than 22 million teens 
(ages 14-19) and often have existing health and social services 
infrastructure, schools and their staff members are well-positioned to 
connect youth to a wide range of needed services, including housing 
assistance, support groups, and sexual health services such as HIV 
testing. As a result, CDC's DASH has focused a number of HIV and STD 
prevention efforts on strategies that can be implemented in or centered 
around schools.
    However, conducting HIV and STD prevention work (particularly work 
that is designed to specifically meet the needs of YMSM), can be 
challenging. According to research, school is not always a welcoming 
environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning 
(LGBTQ) youth. Harassment, bullying, and verbal and physical assault 
are often reported, and such unsupportive environments and 
victimization among LGBT youth are associated with a variety of 
negative outcomes, including truancy, substance use, poor mental 
health, HIV and STD risk, and even suicide.
    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requests a 
three-year OMB approval to conduct a new information collection 
entitled, ``Assessing Education Agency Staff Perceptions of School 
Climate and Youth Access to Services.'' The information collection uses 
two separate, but complementary, information collections to conduct 
assessment of HIV and STD prevention efforts that are taking place in 
three local education agencies (LEA) funded by the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Adolescent and School Health 
(DASH) under strategy 4 (School-Centered HIV/STD Prevention for Young 
Men Who Have Sex with Men (YMSM) of PS13-1308: Promoting Adolescent 
Health through School-Based HIV/STD Prevention and School-Based 
Surveillance. This data collection will provide data and reports for 
the funded LEAs, and will allow the LEAs to identify areas of the 
program that are working well and other areas that will need additional 
improvement. In addition, the findings will allow CDC to determine the 
potential impact of currently recommended strategies and make changes 
to those recommendations if necessary.
    The first information collection will involve collecting 
information from a total of up to 735 LEA employees in 3 LEAs through a 
Web-based instrument tailored to each LEA. The instrument will include 
items that ask education agency staff about professional development, 
referral practices, community linkages/partners, school climate for 
LGBTQ youth, school policies and practices, and staff comfort levels in 
helping address the health needs of YMSM.
    The second information collection will be conducted in only 1 LEA 
(Broward County Public Schools) and is designed to provide an in-depth 
assessment of one LEA as a way to supplement the Web-based data 
collection with more detailed information. This information collection 
will involve in-person interviews with up to 44 LEA employees (2 
district level employees, and up to 6 school level employees in each of 
7 schools) to learn about six domains that can impact school climate: 
Policy, practice, programs, professional development, place, and 
pedagogy.

[[Page 33925]]

    Both the Web-based instrument and in-person interviews will be 
administered in 2014 and 2016. These data collection points coincide 
with the initiation of project activities and the mid-way points of the 
PS13-1308 cooperative agreement. Although some staff may participate in 
the data collection in multiple years, this is not a longitudinal 
design and individual staff member responses will not be tracked across 
the years. No personally identifiable information will be collected.
    All school staff members will receive informed consent forms prior 
to participation in the information collection. The consent form 
explains the study and also explains participants may choose not to 
complete the Web-based instrument or participate in the interviews with 
no penalty and no impact on their job or relationship with the LEA. 
Participation is completely voluntary.
    For the Web-based instrument, the estimated burden per response 
ranges from 20-25 minutes. This variation in burden is due to the 
slight variability in skip patterns that may occur with certain 
responses and variations in the reading speed of respondents. The 
burden estimates presented here are based on the assumption of a 25-
minute response time per response. The estimated annualized burden of 
this data collection is 306 hours for respondents.
    For the Web-based instrument, the estimated burden per response 
ranges from 60-90 minutes, depending on whether the respondent is a 
district-level administrator, a school-level administrator, or another 
school staff member. The burden estimates presented here are based on 
the assumption of a 1-hour response time per district-level and school-
level administrator response and a 1.5-hour response time per school 
staff member response. The estimated annualized burden of this data 
collection is 58 hours for respondents.
    There are no costs to respondents other than their time.
    The two information collections combine for a total estimated 
annualized burden of 367 hours for respondents.

                                                            Estimated Annualize Burden Hours
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                                                                                                             Number of    Average burden
                  Respondents                                   Form name                    Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                                                            respondents     respondent      (in hours)      (in hours)
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School staff...................................  Web-based instrument for Broward County             245               1           25/60             102
                                                  Public Schools.
School staff...................................  Web-based instrument for Los Angeles                245               1           25/60             102
                                                  Unified School District.
School staff...................................  Web-based instrument for San Francisco              245               1           25/60             102
                                                  Unified School District.
District-level Administrators..................  School Climate Index Interview Guide                  2               1               1               2
                                                  for District-level Administrators.
School-level Administrators....................  School Climate Index Interview Guide                 14               1               1              14
                                                  for School-level Administrators.
School Staff...................................  School Climate Index Interview Guide                 28               1             1.5              42
                                                  for School Staff.
                                                                                         ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total......................................  .......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............             364
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Leroy Richardson,
Chief, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the 
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2014-13825 Filed 6-12-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P