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.

SUMMARY:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort 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 system of customized telephone surveys conducted by U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia to produce state-level data about health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, use of preventive services, and emerging health issues.

DATES:

CDC must receive written comments on or before December 15, 2017.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2017-0077 by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.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. CDC will post, without change, all relevant comments to Regulations.gov.

Please note: Submit all Federal comments 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 Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection Review Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: omb@cdc.gov.

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 the OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a proposed data collection as described below.

The OMB is particularly interested in comments that will help:

1. Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;

2. Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;

3. Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and

4. Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submissions of responses.

5. Assess information collection costs.

Proposed Project

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) (OMB Control Number 0920-1061, expiration 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

CDC is requesting OMB approval to continue information collection for the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) for the period of 2018-2021. The BRFSS is a nationwide system of cross-sectional telephone health surveys administered by health departments in states, territories, and the District of Columbia (collectively referred to here as states) in collaboration with CDC. The BRFSS produces state-level information primarily on health risk behaviors, health conditions, and preventive health practices that are associated with chronic diseases, infectious diseases, and injury.

Designed to meet the data needs of individual states and territories, the CDC sponsors the BRFSS information collection project under a cooperative agreement with states and territories. Under this partnership, BRFSS state coordinators determine questionnaire content with technical and methodological assistance provided by CDC. For most states and territories, the BRFSS provides the only sources of data amenable to state and local level health and health risk indicator uses. Over time, it has also 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.

CDC bases the BRFSS questionnaire 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 that outlines 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 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 CDC does not review nor approve. 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 adopt emerging core questions. The purpose of this Revision request is to extend the information collection period for three years and 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. Researchers conduct field-testing in a manner that mimics the full-scale project protocol, to the degree that is feasible. Field-testing allows for necessary changes in data collection methods and data collection software. Researchers use field tests to identify problems with instrument documentation or instructions, problems with conditional logic (e.g., skip patterns), software errors or other implementation and usability issues. Researchers conduct field-testing 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. Researchers also conduct this testing to identify redundant and overlapping questions. 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.

CDC will submit change requests to OMB annually to gain approval to implement modifications identified in field tests. Researchers typically conduct field tests 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. Participation is voluntary and there is no cost to participate. The average time burden per response will be 22 minutes. The total time burden across all respondents will be approximately 241,518 hours.