00-27049. Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

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Proposed Project

Youth Environmental Risk Perception Survey—New—Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). In 1996, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) launched a child health initiative to investigate knowledge and awareness of environmental hazards among children and youth. ATSDR is designing a new study, Risk Perceptions Among Youth of Environmental Hazards, to evaluate whether an educational intervention influences risk perceptions and knowledge of environmental toxins among middle school-aged students in a large metropolitan area. The results of this study will shed light on the ways young people learn about and use new information on environmental hazards. The results of this study will also be used to develop targeted environmental health education campaigns and improve communication strategies aimed at young people, and inform and guide ATSDR partners who may be planning similar educational interventions.

An educational intervention will be designed and implemented in a school-based setting to see if and how three communication variables influence young people's knowledge and behavior of environmental hazards. The key variables in this study are the source of the message, the contaminant, and the individual's perception of risk. A study population of 360 male and female students will be randomly selected from 7th and 8th grade science classes in a large metropolitan school district. Each study participant will complete two written surveys (e.g., a pre-test and post-test) administered prior to and immediately after listening to risk and hazard information. The results will be evaluated to determine the impact of different types and sources of information on the risk perceptions of participants. The estimated annualized burden is 90 hours.

Type of respondents	Number of respondents per year	Number of responses/ respondent	Avg. burden per response (in hrs.)
Middle school students	360	1	15/60

Dated: October 16, 2000.

Nancy Cheal,

Acting Associate Director for Policy, Planning and Evaluation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).