82 FR 34530 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 141 (July 25, 2017)

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 141 (Tuesday, July 25, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34530-34531]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-15523]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Title: Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency Next 
Generation (BIAS-NG).
    OMB No.: New Collection.
    Description: The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) 
in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department 
of Health and Human Services (HHS) requests Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) approval for a 3-year pilot generic clearance to collect 
data as part of rapid cycle testing and evaluation, in order to inform 
the design of interventions informed by behavioral science and to 
better understand the mechanisms and effects of such interventions. 
These interventions, which will be in the program area domains of 
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and child welfare, are 
intended to improve outcomes for participants in these programs.
    OPRE plans to conduct the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-
Sufficiency Next Generation (BIAS-NG) project. This project will use 
behavioral insights to design and test interventions intended to 
improve the efficiency, operations, and efficacy of human services 
programs. The BIAS-NG project will apply behavioral insights to a range 
of ACF programs including TANF, Child Welfare, and other program areas 
to be determined. This notice is specific to data collection with TANF 
and Child Welfare sites; when and if the project desires to work in 
other program areas, OPRE will publish a Federal Register notice 
allowing for public comment and will submit a new information 
collection request for that work. Under this pilot generic clearance, 
OPRE plans to work with approximately six sites to conduct 
approximately two tests per site, for a total of approximately 12 tests 
of behavioral interventions.
    The design and testing of BIAS NG interventions will be rapid and 
iterative. Each specific intervention will be designed in consultation 
with agency leaders and launched quickly. To maximize the likelihood 
that the intervention produces measurable, significant, positive 
effects on outcomes of interest, rapid cycle evaluation techniques will 
be employed in which proximate outcomes will be measured to allow the 
research team to rapidly iterate and adjust the intervention design, 
informing subsequent tests.
    Due to the rapid and iterative nature of this work OPRE seeks 
generic clearance to conduct this research. Following standard OMB 
requirements for generic clearances, once instruments are tailored to a 
specific site and the site's intervention, OPRE will submit an 
individual generic information collection request under this umbrella 
clearance. Each request will include the individual instrument(s), a 
justification specific to the individual information collection, a 
description of the proposed intervention, and any supplementary 
documents. Each specific information collection will include two 
submissions: First, a submission for the formative stage research and 
second, a submission for the test and evaluation materials. In this 
notice we describe the types of information expected to be collected 
for each test and the expected burden.
    To ensure maximal relevance to the domain areas selected (i.e., 
Child Welfare and TANF), the project has identified a set of broad 
problems that affect entire domain areas rather than problems that are 
idiosyncratic to a particular program. In each of the approximately six 
sites with which the project will work under this clearance, 
interventions will be designed and tested using an approach called 
behavioral diagnosis and design which will involve determining how 
identified problems operate within each site's specific context, 
diagnosing behavioral reasons for those problems, designing 
interventions informed by behavioral insights, and rigorously testing 
the interventions. Information will be collected throughout this 
process. The information that will be collected is specific to each of 
the sites, will not be collected indefinitely, and is not intended to 
be interpreted as applicable to other sites or to other programs. In 
addition, in working with the project to design the behavioral 
interventions to be tested, some sites may decide to change what data 
they collect and/or the questions they ask the public to answer. Such 
decisions will be controlled by the sites, not by the project.
    In order to define and diagnose program challenges and design 
appropriate interventions, OPRE plans to conduct interviews and focus 
groups

[[Page 34531]]

with administrators, staff, and/or clients in each of the approximately 
six sites. OPRE will field client and/or staff surveys in order to hear 
from a breadth of perspectives. In addition to interviews, focus 
groups, and surveys, OPRE anticipates observing program activities and 
reviewing documents and administrative data. This information will be 
critical to diagnosing where and why programs are facing challenges and 
which behavioral interventions may have an impact.
    During the testing phase OPRE anticipates conducting mixed-methods 
evaluations consisting of implementation, impact, and cost research for 
the approximately two tests in each of the approximately six total 
sites that will be engaged across the two program areas included under 
this clearance, TANF and Child Welfare (for a total of 12 tests). To 
better understand how the intervention is being implemented and its 
effects, OPRE anticipates conducting interviews and focus groups with 
program administrators, staff, and/or clients in each site. Because not 
all outcomes of interest (for example, improved understanding of and/or 
satisfaction with the foster parent recruitment process) are reflected 
in administrative records, OPRE anticipates conducting client surveys 
and staff surveys.
    Interest in participating in BIAS-NG is expected to be high, and it 
is not expected that systematic recruitment of sites will be necessary. 
Within each site, we do not intend to do any active recruitment as all 
those who are eligible will be enrolled in the study and randomization 
will be conducted using a list of those who meet the eligibility 
criteria. Findings from these tests will be publicized through multiple 
dissemination channels, which may include but are not limited to 
reports on individual tests, a final synthesis report, presentations at 
conferences and meetings, scholarly journal articles, webinars, social 
media, press outreach, newsletters, etc.
    Respondents: (1) Program Administrators, (2) Program Staff and (3) 
Program Clients.

                                               Total Burden Hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                    Number of         Average
                 Instrument                   Total number  of    responses per    burden hours    Total burden
                                                 respondents       respondent      per response        hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           Diagnosis and Design Phase
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Administrator interviews/focus groups.......                24                 1               1              24
Staff interviews/focus groups...............                48                 1               1              48
Client interviews/focus groups..............                48                 1               1              48
Client survey...............................               600                 1             .25             150
Staff Survey................................               120                 1             .25              30
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                Evaluation Phase
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Administrator interviews/focus groups.......                48                 1               1              48
Staff interviews/focus groups...............                96                 1               1              96
Client interviews/focus groups..............                96                 1               1              96
Client Survey...............................             6,000                 1             .25           1,500
Staff survey................................               120                 1             .25              30
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 2,070 hours.
    Additional Information: Copies of the proposed collection may be 
obtained by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, 
Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, 330 C Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20201, Attn: OPRE Reports Clearance Officer. All 
requests should be identified by the title of the information 
collection. Email address: [email protected].
    OMB Comment: OMB is required to make a decision concerning the 
collection of information between 30 and 60 days after publication of 
this document in the Federal Register. Therefore, a comment is best 
assured of having its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of 
publication. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent directly to the following: Office 
of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, Email: 
[email protected], Attn: Desk Officer for the Administration 
for Children and Families.

Mary Jones,
ACF/OPRE, Certifying Officer.
[FR Doc. 2017-15523 Filed 7-24-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4184-07-P