[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 232 (Tuesday, December 5, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 84343-84345]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-26586]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection: 
Public Comment Request; Information Collection Request Title: Assessing 
the Use of Informal Contacts To Promote Caregivers' Engagement and 
Satisfaction With Home Visiting

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department 
of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirement for opportunity for public 
comment on proposed data collection projects of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, HRSA announces plans to submit an Information Collection 
Request (ICR), described below, to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB). Prior to submitting the ICR to OMB, HRSA seeks comments from the 
public regarding the burden estimate, below, or any other aspect of the 
ICR.

DATES: Comments on this ICR should be received no later than February 
5, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments to [email protected] or mail the HRSA 
Information Collection Clearance

[[Page 84344]]

Officer, Room 14N39, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the data collection plans and 
draft instruments, email [email protected] or call Joella Roland, the 
HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer, at (301) 443-3983.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When submitting comments or requesting 
information, please include the ICR title for reference.
    Information Collection Request Title: Assessing the Use of Informal 
Contacts to Promote Caregivers' Engagement and Satisfaction with Home 
Visiting OMB No. 0915-xxxx--[New].
    Abstract: The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting 
(MIECHV) Program, authorized by Social Security Act, title V, section 
511 (42 U.S.C. 711) and administered by HRSA in partnership with the 
Administration for Children and Families, supports voluntary, evidence-
based home visiting services during pregnancy and for parents with 
young children up to kindergarten entry. States, tribal entities, and 
certain nonprofit organizations are eligible to receive funding from 
the MIECHV Program and have the flexibility to tailor the program to 
serve the specific needs of their communities. Funding recipients may 
subaward grant funds to local implementing agencies to provide home 
visiting services to eligible families in at-risk communities.
    This information collection is part of the Assessing and Describing 
Practice Transitions Among Evidence-Based Home Visiting Programs in 
Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Study. This study aims 
to identify and study practices implemented in response to the COVID-19 
public health emergency that support evidence-based practice and have 
the potential to enhance home visiting programming. One of the 
practices the study identified is the use of informal contacts. 
Informal contacts are any contacts between a home visitor and family 
that occur between formal home visits (e.g., text messages, emails). 
The purpose of this information collection is to better understand, 
through rapid cycle learning, how MIECHV-funded home visiting programs 
can use informal contacts to improve service delivery and promote 
caregiver's engagement and satisfaction.
    Information will be collected in four phases designed to (1) 
identify informal contact strategies (co-definition phase); (2) pilot 
test and identify refinements to improve the implementation of 
strategies (installation phase); (3) iteratively test the strategies 
with refinements to their implementation (refinement phase); and (4) 
assess the potential of informal contact strategies to improve service 
delivery and promote family engagement and family satisfaction with 
home visiting programs (summary phase). Data collection activities 
include focus groups, online questionnaires, and review of documents 
and administrative data.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: The onset of the COVID-19 
public health emergency prompted home visitors to use telephone, text, 
and social media direct messaging to informally contact families on a 
more frequent basis--in some instances, daily. This practice has 
continued for some programs even after the end of the public health 
emergency and the transition back to in-person service delivery. 
Current evidence suggests considerable variation in strategies used by 
home visiting programs with regards to context, type, frequency, and 
purpose of informal contacts. While increasing contacts helped home 
visitors to build rapport and further address family needs, other 
findings suggest that informal contacts can place pressure on families 
to engage with home visitors beyond what they have the capacity for and 
increase the workloads of home visitors. Given these initial findings 
and the increased use of informal contacts since the public health 
emergency, there is a need for more information about how home visitors 
contact families outside of home visits, variations in strategies, how 
families perceive the strategies, and how to address challenges around 
informal contacts. HRSA intends to use collected information to provide 
evidence-informed resources and strategies that MIECHV awardees can use 
to effectively engage and communicate with families between scheduled 
home visits.
    Likely Respondents: Respondents include families who receive home 
visiting services and MIECHV-funded visiting program staff, which may 
include program directors, managers, supervisors, and home visitors.
    Burden Statement: Burden in this context means the time expended by 
persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose, or provide the 
information requested. 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. The total annual burden hours estimated for 
this ICR are summarized in the table below.

                                     Total Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                     Number of                    Average burden
            Form name                Number of     responses per       Total       per response    Total burden
                                    respondents     respondent       responses      (in hours)         hours
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Program Eligibility Protocol....              16               1              16            1.00            16.0
Program Staff Focus Group                     24               1              24            1.50            36.0
 Protocol 1 (Co-definition
 Phase).........................
Program Staff Focus Group                     24               1              24            1.50            36.0
 Protocol 2 (Co-definition
 Phase).........................
Program Staff Focus Group                     24               3              72            1.00            72.0
 Protocol (Installation &
 Refinement Phases).............
Program Staff Focus Group                     24               1              24            1.00            24.0
 Protocol (Summary Phase).......
Family Focus Group Protocol (Co-              48               1              48            1.00            48.0
 definition & Summary Phases)...
Home Visitor Questionnaire                    40               9             360            0.17            61.2
 (Installation & Refinement
 Phases)........................
Family Post-Visit Questionnaire               48               6             288            0.08            23.0
 (Refinement Phase).............

[[Page 84345]]

 
Focus Group Participant                      120               1             120            0.08             9.6
 Characteristics Form (All
 Phases)........................
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    Total.......................             368  ..............             976  ..............           325.8
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    HRSA specifically requests comments on (1) the necessity and 
utility of the proposed information collection for the proper 
performance of the agency's functions; (2) the accuracy of the 
estimated burden; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 
of the information to be collected; and (4) the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology to 
minimize the information collection burden.

Maria G. Button,
Director, Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2023-26586 Filed 12-4-23; 8:45 am]
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