2014-26084. Proposed Data Collections Submitted for Public Comment and Recommendations

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce public burden, 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. To request more information on the below proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, call 404-639-7570 or send comments to Leroy A. Richardson, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-D74, Atlanta, GA 30333 or send an email to [e-mail].

Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized and/or included in the request for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval. 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. Written comments should be received within 60 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG)—(0920-0314, expires 04/30/2015)—Revision—National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

Section 306 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 U.S.C. 242k), as amended, authorizes that the Secretary of Health and Human Services (DHHS), acting through NCHS, shall collect statistics on “family formation, growth, and dissolution,” as well as “determinants of health” and “utilization of health care” in the United States. This three-year clearance request includes the data collection in 2015-2017 for the continuous NSFG.

The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) was conducted periodically between 1973 and 2002, continuously in 2006-2010, and continuously starting in Fall 2011, by the National Center for Health Statistics, CDC. Each year, about 14,000 households are screened, with about 5,000 participants interviewed annually. Participation in the NSFG is completely voluntary and confidential. Interviews average 60 minutes for males and 80 minutes for females. The response rate since 2006 has been about 77 percent for both males and females.

The NSFG program produces descriptive statistics which document factors associated with birth and pregnancy rates, including contraception, infertility, marriage, divorce, and sexual activity, in the U.S. household population 15-44 years; and behaviors that affect the risk of sexually transmitted diseases (STD), including HIV, and the medical care associated with contraception, infertility, and pregnancy and childbirth. Beginning in 2015, the NSFG will expand its age range to represent the U.S. household population 15-49 years.

NSFG data users include the DHHS programs that fund it, including CDC/NCHS and ten others (The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NIH/NICHD); the Office of Population Affairs (DHHS/OPA); the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (DHHS/OASPE); the Children's Bureau (DHHS/ACF/CB); the ACF's Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation; the CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (CDC/DHAP); the CDC's Division of STD Prevention (CDC/DSTD); the CDC's Division of Reproductive Health (CDC/DRH); the CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (CDC/DCPC); and the CDC's Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (DBDDD)). The NSFG is also used by state and local governments; private research and action organizations focused on men's and women's health, child well-being, and marriage and the family; academic researchers in the social and public health sciences; journalists, and many others.

This submission requests approval for three years. Questionnaire revisions are requested for fieldwork starting in September 2015. A small set of additional changes may be requested in the future, to be responsive to emerging public policy issues. There is no cost to respondents other than their time.

Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

Type of respondents	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden per response (in hours)	Total burden hours
1. Screener Respondents	14,000	1	3/60	700
2. Interview Females	2,750	1	1.5	4,125
3. Interview Males	2,250	1	1.0	2,250
4. Verification Questions	1,400	1	5/60	117
5. Testing Questions	250	1	1	250
Total				7,442

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.