Nov 21 -- The Census Bureau invites comments by January 20, 2023 on the proposed data collection entitled the National Survey of Children's Health Longitudinal Cohort.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau (HRSA MCHB), the National Survey of Children's Health Longitudinal Cohort (NSCH-LC) will produce unique data on the physical and emotional health of 3- to 23-year-olds in the United States with a focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. The NSCH-LC will collect information related to the health and well-being of children, young adults, and their families, including access to and use of health care, family interactions, parental health, school, and after-school experiences.
The goal of the NSCH-LC is to provide HRSA MCHB, other government agencies, and other data users with the necessary data to assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on U.S. children, young adults, and their families, to illuminate key risk and protective factors for this cohort, and to identify gaps in health care and education during this period.
The data collection strategy for the NSCH-LC is informed by the data collection strategies of other similar surveys, such as the annual National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH). The data collection strategy for the NSCH-LC will consist of the following components:
• Sampling Frame—The base sample will consist of 60,000 households that responded to the annual NSCH in 2018 and 2019.
• Incentive Distribution—The NSCH-LC will provide a $5 pre-paid unconditional cash incentive to 100% of the total sampled addresses.
• Mailing Materials Strategy— Households will be assigned to a mailing strategy based on respondent behavior in the NSCH 2018/2019. All sampled addresses will receive an initial web invitation letter to complete the NSCH-LC followed by a pressure-sealed reminder postcard one week later. All non-responding households may receive up to one additional pressure-sealed reminder postcard and up to three additional nonresponse follow-up mailings. Households will receive a paper questionnaire based on their prior response preference on the NSCH 2018/2019. Households with a preference to respond with the paper instrument may receive an English questionnaire as early as the first follow-up mailing. Households with a preference to respond with the web instrument may receive an English questionnaire as early as the second follow-up mailing. For households that preferred to respond in Spanish, those households will receive a Spanish paper questionnaire in the initial mailing and with each nonresponse follow-up mailing. The NSCH-LC mailed correspondence will be addressed to the “Parent or Previous Caregiver of [child's/person's name]” or to the “Parent or Previous Caregiver”. For those households that complete the survey, they may receive a “thank you” letter after the data has been publicly released thanking them for their response and sharing information about where to find the published datasets.
• Questionnaire Content—The content for the NSCH-LC has undergone two rounds of cognitive testing and asks households to report retrospectively on different topics during the COVID-19 pandemic at the time of response when the NSCH-LC will be fielded in late Summer 2023. Additional content will be from the annual NSCH covering topics such as physical and emotional health, health insurance coverage, health care access, community, childcare, and school engagement, development, learning, and school readiness, and family resources. The overlap of content with the annual NSCH was done to provide a comparison of content collected in NSCH 2018/2019 to the NSCH-LC in 2023. Some of the content from the NSCH 2018/2019 was updated to a gender-neutral text to match current standards. This cognitive testing request was submitted under the generic clearance package and approved by OMB. Based on the results of cognitive testing, a final set of proposed new and modified content will be included in the full OMB ICR for the NSCH-LC.
• Data Collection—The NSCH-LC is a one-phase data collection. Households will be assigned one of the three age-based topical questionnaires. To support the full age range of 3-23 years old for the NSCH-LC sampled children and young adults, the questionnaire age splits will be as followed: LC1/S-LC1 is 3- to 5-years-old, the LC2_3/S-LC2_3 is 6- to 17-years-old, and the LC4/S-LC4 is 18- to 23-years-old.
• Nonresponse Follow-up—If there is evidence during the NSCH-LC data collection that the household has moved, that household case may be sent for interviewer follow-up. Interviewer nonresponse follow-up is fully dependent on funding being available. These interviewers will not administer the survey, but they will encourage response through the web instrument, paper instrument, or TQA phone support.
• Data Mode Collection—There will be two modes of data collection for the NSCH-LC. Households will be able to answer by a self-administered internet/web instrument (English only) or they will be able to answer by paper questionnaire (available in both English and Spanish). Additionally, they may call into the TQA line to complete the survey over the phone with an operator. TQA operators will be using the same web instrument used by respondents. All non-responding households will receive a paper questionnaire by the second nonresponse follow-up mailing.
• Branding—Mailing materials will be sent using U.S. Census Bureau letterhead and envelopes. Mailing materials will be reviewed during cognitive testing and based on the annual NSCH mailing materials.
• Respondent Help/Support Operations—The NSCH-LC will have a TQA line available for those who experience technical problems, have questions about the NSCH-LC, would like to complete the survey with an operator, or would like to request a paper questionnaire. In addition, email questionnaire assistance will be available for these households should they prefer that method of contact.
The NSCH-LC will consist of both a web-push and a mixed mode data collection design. Every mailing the household receives will include a web invitation to complete the English web instrument. However, depending on the mode of completion and language preference in NSCH 2018/2019, the NSCH-LC invitation mail package may also include a paper questionnaire (either English or Spanish). The Spanish language response preference group will also receive instructions for calling into the TQA line to complete the survey in Spanish over the phone. Households that prefer to complete the survey using a paper questionnaire may call TQA to request a questionnaire be mailed to them in their next scheduled mailing.
NCHS (HRSA)
https://mchb.hrsa.gov/data-research/national-survey-childrens-health
NCHS (Census)
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/nsch.html
Draft data collection instruments and technical documentation
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jisooim3mvzx09j/0607-XXXX%20National%20Survey%20of%20Children%E2%80%99s%20Health%20Longitudinal%20Cohort%20%28NSCH-LC%29%20OMB%20ICR%20DRAFT%20Package.pdf?dl=0
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2022-25319