2017-27743. Proposed Data Collections 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 the opportunity to comment on a proposed and/or continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice invites comment on a proposed information collection project titled The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), designed to provide nationally representative, scientifically credible data on factors related to birth and pregnancy rates, family formation and dissolution patterns, and reproductive health.

DATES:

CDC must receive written comments on or before February 26, 2018.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2017-0099 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 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: [phone]; Email: [e-mail].

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

The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG)—(OMB Control Number 0920-0314, Expires 05/31/2018)—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 clearance request includes the data collection in 2018-2019 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 September 2011, by the National Center for Health Statistics, CDC. Each year, about 15,000 households are screened, with about 5,000 participants interviewed annually. Participation in the NSFG is voluntary and confidential. Interviews average 60 minutes for males and 80 minutes for females. The response rate since 2011 has ranged from 69 percent to 77 percent, and the cumulative response rate for the entire fieldwork period so far (September 2011 through the most current quarter which ended in May 2017) is 69 percent.

The NSFG program produces descriptive statistics, which document factors associated with birth and pregnancy rates. Also, including contraception, infertility, marriage, divorce, and sexual activity, in the US household population 15-49 years (15-44 years in survey periods before 2015); 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.

The following DHHS programs fund NSFG data users: CDC/NCHS and eleven others;(The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NIH/NICHD); the Office of Population Affairs (DHHS/OPA); 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 Adolescent and School Health (CDC/DASH) the CDC's Division of Reproductive Health (CDC/DRH); the CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (CDC/DCPC); the CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (CDC/DNPAO); and the CDC's Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (CDC/DBDDD). The NSFG is also used by state and local governments (primarily for benchmarking to national data); 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 to continue NSFG fieldwork for three years. While there is no questionnaire revisions requested, the two methodological studies are proposed. The total estimated annualized time burden to respondents is 6,759 hours. There is no cost to respondents other than their time.

Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

Type of respondents	Form name	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden per response (in hours)	Total burden (in hours)
Household Member	Screener Interview	15,000	1	3/60	750
Household Female 15-49 years of age	Female Interview	2,750	1	80/60	3,667
Household Male 15-49 years of age	Male Interview	2,250	1	1.0	2,250
Household Member	Screener Verification	1,500	1	2/60	50
Household individual 15-49 years of age	Main Verification	500	1	5/60	42
Total					6,759

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.