[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 238 (Monday, December 12, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77236-77237]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-31597]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

    Title: Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting 
Evaluation: Baseline survey data collection.
    OMB No.:
    Description: The Administration for Children and Families (ACE) and 
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) within the U.S. 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have launched a national 
evaluation called the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home 
Visiting Evaluation (MIECE). This evaluation, mandated by the 
Affordable Care Act, will inform the federal government about the 
effectiveness of the newly established MIECHV program in its first few 
years of operation, and provide information to help states develop and 
strengthen home visiting programs in the future. By systematically 
estimating the effects of home visiting programs across a wide range of 
outcomes and studying the variation in how programs are implemented, 
MIECE will provide valuable information on the effects of these 
programs on parents and children. This includes investigating the 
effects of home visiting on maternal and child well-being, how those 
effects vary for different home visiting approaches, and how variations 
in program design and implementation influence program fidelity and 
impacts.
    The MIECE study includes two phases: Phase 1 includes baseline data 
collection and implementation data; Phase 2 includes follow up data 
collection. The purpose of the current document is to request approval 
of data collection efforts needed for Phase 1 of MIECE and to request a 
waiver for subsequent 60 day notices for Phase 2. Phase I will include 
data collected about families when they enter the study as well as data 
on program implementation. Those data collection efforts include the 
following: (1) Obtaining consent to collect data from all Phase 1 
respondents, (2) surveys of parents when they enter the study, (3) 
annual semi-structured interviews with state MIECHV administrators, (4) 
annual surveys of home visiting program site managers, (5) annual 
surveys of home visiting program site supervisors, (6) annual surveys 
of program site home visitors, (7) annual surveys of administrators of 
community resources that provide services relevant to home visited 
families; (8) logs maintained by supervisors on supervisory activities, 
(9) logs maintained by home visitors on service delivery, (10) self-
completed questionnaires by parents during selected home visits, (11) 
self-completed questionnaires by home visitors during selected home 
visits, and (12) qualitative interviews and focus groups with staff at 
participating program sites in each state. These data will be used to 
measure characteristics of participating families at the time of 
enrollment into the study; characteristics of program staff; factors 
for service delivery; and program implementation, fidelity, and costs. 
In addition to data collected during Phase 1, the evaluation will 
collect information on family outcomes around the time of the child's 
first birthday. These data will include a one-hour interview with the 
parent and 30-minutes of observed interactions between the parent and 
child. This notice does not seek comment on these follow-up data 
collection activities.
    The baseline family survey will be used to collect information on 
background and experiences when families enter the study. The remaining 
data collection will be used to collect information on organizational 
and individual-level factors that influence how home visiting services 
are delivered. The visit logs for families participating in NIECE and 
assigned to the home visiting group and the videotaped home visits will 
be used to

[[Page 77237]]

collect information on the services provided to families.
    Respondents: The respondents, who will be the same in Phases 1 and 
2 of the evaluation, will include enrolled parents; state MIECHV 
administrators; home visiting program managers, supervisors, and home 
visitors; and administrators of community resources. Data collection 
activities will take place over a three-year period.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of    Average burden
                   Instrument                      Annual number   responses per     hours per     Total annual
                                                  of respondents    respondent       response      burden hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Consent for all Phase 1 respondents.............            2040               1            0.2              408
Baseline survey of parents in the study.........            1700               1            1.0             1700
Semi-structured interviews with state MIECHV                   8               1            2.0               16
 administrators.................................
Surveys of program site managers................              28               2            3.0              168
Surveys of program site supervisors.............              33               2            1.25              85
Surveys of program site home visitors...........             170               2            1.25             425
Surveys of community resource administrators....             567               1            0.1               57
Supervisor logs.................................              33              48            0.5              792
Home visitor logs...............................             170              48            0.5             4080
Self-completed questionnaires by parents........             255               1            0.2               51
Self-completed questionnaires by home visitors..              85               3            0.2               51
Qualitative interviews and focus groups with                 232               1            1.0              232
 staff at participating program sites in each
 state..........................................
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours.........  ..............  ..............  ..............           8,065
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In compliance with the requirements of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and 
Families is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the 
information collection described above. Copies of the proposed 
collection of information can be obtained and comments may be forwarded 
by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, Office of 
Planning, Research and Evaluation, 370 L'Enfant Promenade SW., 
Washington, DC 20447, Attn: OPRE Reports Clearance Officer. Email 
address: [email protected]. All requests should be 
identified by the title of the information collection.
    The Department specifically requests comments 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) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
to be collected; and (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. 
Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted 
within 60 days of this publication.

    Dated: December 5, 2011.
Steven M. Hanmer,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 2011-31597 Filed 12-9-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-22-M