[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 12 (Wednesday, January 20, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3140-3142]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-00938]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[60 Day-16-1061; Docket No. CDC-2016-0008]
Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and
Recommendations
AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Notice with comment period.
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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part
of its continuing efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the
utility of government information, 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. This notice invites comment on the Behavioral
Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a state-level survey of health
risk behaviors and chronic health conditions. Survey questions are
updated each year. The information collection is being revised to
incorporate an annual field test of proposed changes prior to their
implementation on a broad scale.
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before March 21, 2016.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2016-
0008 by any of the following methods:
[[Page 3141]]
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulation.gov. Follow the instructions
for submitting comments.
Mail: Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection Review Office,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-
D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and Docket Number. All relevant comments received will be posted
without change to Regulations.gov, including any personal information
provided. For access to the docket to read background documents or
comments received, go to Regulations.gov.
Please note: All public comment should be submitted through the
Federal eRulemaking portal (Regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the
address listed above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan
and instruments, contact the Information Collection Review Office,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-
D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of
information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires
Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new
proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of
information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information
collection before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a
proposed data collection as described below.
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.
Proposed Project
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) (OMB No. 0920-
1061, exp. 3/31/2018)--Revision--National Center for Chronic Disease
Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP), Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC).
Background and Brief Description
The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a CDC-
sponsored system of cross-sectional telephone health surveys concerning
individual health risk behaviors, health conditions, and preventive
health practices that are associated with chronic diseases, infectious
diseases, and injury. The BRFSS is administered annually by health
departments in states, territories, and the District of Columbia
(collectively referred to as states). An independent sample of
respondents is drawn for each state. The system is designed to produce
information that is specific to the public health needs of each
participating jurisdiction, and for many is the only source of health
risk data amenable to their uses. Although national estimates of some
health risk behaviors are available, the methods used to produce
national estimates do not typically produce the type of detailed
information needed to plan and implement public health programs;
moreover, national estimates provide only limited insight into regional
or state-specific variability in health status and risk factors. Over
time the BRFSS has developed into an important data collection system
that federal agencies rely on for state and local health information
and to track national health objectives such as Healthy People. Through
the BRFSS partnership, CDC has established standard protocols for BRFSS
data collection which all states are encouraged to adopt. These
standards allow for state-to-state data comparisons as well as
comparisons over time.
The BRFSS questionnaire is based on modular design principles to
accommodate a variety of state-specific needs within a common
framework. All participating states are required to administer a
standardized core questionnaire which provides a set of shared health
indicators for all BRFSS partners. The BRFSS core questionnaire
consists of fixed core, rotating core, and emerging core questions.
Fixed core questions are asked every year. Rotating core questions
cycle on and off the core questionnaire during even or odd years,
depending on the question. Emerging core questions are included in the
core questionnaire as needed to collect data on urgent or emerging
health topics such as influenza.
In addition, the BRFSS includes a series of optional modules on a
variety of topics. In off-years when the rotating questions are not
included in the core questionnaire, they are offered to states as an
optional module. This framework allows each state to produce a
customized BRFSS survey by appending selected optional modules to the
core survey. States may select which, if any, optional modules to
administer. As needed, CDC provides technical and methodological
assistance to state BRFSS coordinators in the construction of their
state-specific surveys.
The CDC and BRFSS partners produce a new set of state-specific
BRFSS questionnaires each calendar year (i.e., 2016 BRFSS
questionnaires, 2017 BRFSS questionnaires, etc.). CDC submits an annual
Change Request to OMB outlining updates to the BRFSS core survey and
optional modules that have occurred since the previous year. Each state
administers its BRFSS questionnaire throughout the calendar year. The
BRFSS partnership thus results in a flexible, coordinated information
collection system that is adaptive to national and state-specific
needs.
The current estimated average burden for the core BRFSS interview
is 15 minutes. For the optional modules, the estimated average burden
per response varies by state and year, but is currently estimated at an
additional 15 minutes. Finally, the BRFSS allows states to customize
some portions of the questionnaire through the addition of state-added
questions, which are neither reviewed nor approved by the CDC. State-
added questions are not included in CDC's burden estimates.
CDC periodically updates the BRFSS core survey and optional modules
as new modules or emerging core
[[Page 3142]]
questions are adopted. The purpose of this Revision request is to
incorporate field testing into the approved information collection
plan.
Field testing is the final check of changes in the questionnaire
which have occurred in the preceding year. Field testing is conducted
in a manner that mimics the full-scale project protocol, to the degree
that is feasible. Field testing is the final means by which changes are
made in data collection methods and data collection software is tested.
Field tests are used to identify problems with instrument documentation
or instructions, problems with conditional logic (e.g., skip patterns),
software errors or other implementation and usability issues. Field
testing is conducted with all new modules, emerging core questions,
sections which precede and/or follow any new or changed items and
extant sections which are topically related. This testing is conducted
to ensure that questions are not perceived as redundant or overlapping.
Extant sections of the questionnaire unrelated to new items do not
require testing. The demographic questions on the core BRFSS survey are
included on each field test.
Since the field test instrument changes annually, it will be
submitted to OMB for approval as an additional Change Request prior to
implementation. Field tests are typically conducted in a single state
with appropriate computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI)
capability. Individuals who participate in field testing are drawn from
a different sample than individuals who participate in the BRFSS
surveys.
The BRFSS was initially approved with annualized estimates of
1,643,227 responses and 255,915 burden hours inclusive of the core
survey and optional modules. CDC is requesting an additional allocation
of 900 responses and 9,210 burden hours to conduct the annual field
test. After a brief screening interview, approximately 400 respondents
per year will be determined ineligible or will decline to participate.
The estimated burden per response for these respondents is one minute.
An additional 500 respondents will participate in both the screening
interview and the actual field test. The estimated burden for these
respondents is 45 minutes. In years when fewer new questions and/or
changes are proposed to the BRFSS questionnaire, field testing will
impose a lesser burden. The revised total annualized estimates are
1,644,127 responses and 265,125 burden hours.
Information collection is conducted primarily to support state and
local health departments, which plan and evaluate public health
programs at the state or sub-state level. Information collected through
the BRFSS is also used by the federal government and other entities.
Participation in the BRFSS and its field test is voluntary and there
are no costs to respondents other than their time.
Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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Average
Number of Number of burden per Total burden
Type of respondents Form name respondents responses per response (in (in hr)
respondent hr)
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U.S. General Population....... Landline 440,486 1 1/60 7,341
Screener.
Cell Phone 223,334 1 1/60 3,722
Screener.
Field Test 400 1 1/60 7
Screener.
Annual Survey BRFSS Core 494,650 1 15/60 123,662
Respondents(Adults >18 Years). Survey.
BRFSS Optional 484,757 1 15/60 121,189
Modules.
Field Test Respondents(Adults Field Test 500 1 45/60 375
>18 Years). Survey.
Total..................... ................ .............. .............. .............. 256,296
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Leroy A. 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. 2016-00938 Filed 1-19-16; 8:45 am]
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