Advance Letter to Providers

Provider Based Sampling Advance Letter to Providers OMB #: 0925-0593

EXPIRATION DATE: 07/31/2013

November 10, 2011

Dear INSERT PROVIDER NAME

The National Children’s Study (NCS) is coming to Jefferson County! The University of Louisville is participating with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development and Study Centers across the country to implement the largest study ever conducted to understand environmental influences on children’s health and development from the prenatal period through twenty-one years of life. We are contacting you today because we depend on your support.

During the current phase of the study, known as the Vanguard Phase, different centers are testing a variety of models to determine the most efficient and effective methods for obtaining a representative sample of women early in pregnancy. Our charge has been to develop, implement, and evaluate a scientifically sound plan to sample prenatal care provider offices as a means of getting a representative sample of women from Jefferson County.

To that end, we will first be identifying all locations where health care professionals provide prenatal care. We will then be surveying those providers to gather demographic information, in aggregate, about each of their offices and the women they serve. Upon completion of the initial data collection, we will work with NCS statisticians to select a sample of provider offices that we will engage to be NCS recruitment locations. Once those practices have been identified and the providers have agreed to participate, we will begin to recruit pregnant women. We will be contacting your office soon to ask for your help. Minimal time will be needed to complete the initial phase of provider data collection. When recruitment of women begins, you will be asked to be an advocate of the NCS and allow our staff to be present at your practice site to talk with your patients. Compensation can be negotiated for actual expenses related to the project. Please support our efforts by allowing your office staff to talk with us when we call.

Sincerely,

David Tollerud, MD, MPH, Director

Deborah Winders Davis, PhD, Co-Director

Jeffery King, MD, Co-Investigator

Irma Ramos, MD, MPH, Co-Investigator

Bruce Gale, MS, Co-Investigator

Sharon Nuss, MS, Research Manager

NOTE: The University Institutional Review Board has determined that this phase is not human subjects’ research