Agency information collection activities; proposals, submissions, and approvals , 34267-34268 [E7-11971]

Agencies

• National Institutes of Health

[Federal Register: June 21, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 119)]
[Notices]
[Page 34267-34268]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr21jn07-52]

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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: Continuation.

[[Page 34268]]

    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 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 consumer 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 activity 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 the unique
information needs and distinct health-information-seeking behaviors of
its core constituencies, and 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; nonprofit
institutions; Federal Government; State, Local, or Tribal Government.
    Type of Respondents: Adult patients; members of the public; health
care professionals; organizational representatives.
    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: 2,124 for the 3-year
clearance period (approximately 708 hours annually). The annualized
cost to respondents is estimated at $19,624. 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 
thomsenc@mail.nih.gov. 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 30 days
of the date of this publication.

    Dated: June 13, 2007.
Christy Thomsen,
Director, Office of Communications and Public Liaison, National Center
for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of
Health.
[FR Doc. E7-11971 Filed 6-20-07; 8:45 am]

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