Proposed Data Collection; Comment Request; National Physician Survey of Practices on Diet, Physical Activity, and Weight Control

SUMMARY:

Under the provision of section 3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI), has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for review and approval of the information collection listed below. This proposed information collection was previously published in the Federal Register on June 28, 2007, page 43609 and allowed 60-days for public comment. One public comment was received asking about the possibility of doing studies of autism rather than the proposed survey. The comment was out of the scope of this current project. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comment. The National Institutes of Health may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection that has been extended, revised, or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Proposed Collection

Title: Physician Survey of Practices on Diet, Physical Activity, and Weight Control.

Type of Information Collection Request: NEW.

Need and Use of Information Collection: This study will obtain current, national data on primary care physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to diet, physical activity, and weight control. Obesity, poor diet, and lack of physical activity are becoming recognized as major public health problems in the United States, and have been linked to increased risk, adverse prognosis, and poor quality of life for cancer and many other chronic diseases. The data collected in this study will support and further NCI work in monitoring and evaluating providers' cancer prevention knowledge, attitudes, and practices and their impact on pupulation health, as well as enable monitoring of progress toward major cancer control goals. Data from the survey will be used to profile existing physician practice, understand barriers to counseling and referral, and to inform methods for improving the utilization of these services for adults and children. Two questionnaires, one sent to physicians and one sent to their practice administrators, will be administered by mail or telephone to a randomly-selected national sample of 2,000 physicians belonging to primary care specialties. Study participants will be 2,000 practicing physicians who are family practitioners, general internists, pediatricians, and obstetrician/gynecologists and 2,000 practice administrators.

The annual reporting burden is as follows: Estimated Number of Respondents: 4,000; Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 1; Average Burden Hours Per Response: .333; and Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours, Requested: 1,332. The annualized cost to respondents is estimated at: $65,048. There are no Capital Costs to report. There are no Operating or Maintenance Costs to report.

Request for Comments: Written comments and/or suggestions from the public and affected agencies are invited on one or more of the following points: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the 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; 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Send comments to Ashley Wilder Smith, Ph.D., M.P.H., Health Sciences Specialist, National Cancer Institute, 6130 Executive Blvd., MSC 7344, Executive Plaza North, Room 4090, Bethesda, MD 20892-7344. Telephone: 301-451-1843; E-mail: smithas@mail.nih.gov.

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 should be received by September 26, 2007.