Non Substantive Change Memo

TO: Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Through: Project Clearance Chief, NIH

FROM: Kevin P. Conway, Ph.D.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

SUBJECT: Request to Change the Followup Tracking Participant Information Forms for the Baseline Wave of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study (NIDA) (OMB Control Number 0925-0664, expiration date 11/30/2015)

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) requests OMB approval to change the Followup Tracking Participant Information Forms in use for the current, baseline wave of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study.

Maintaining information on the location of study participants is key for cohort retention and high follow-up response rates in longitudinal studies such as the PATH Study. Currently, the PATH Study collects contact information from participants, including the names and contact information for two references who will always know how to locate the participant and new contact information for participants planning to move.

To keep this contact information up-to-date between the baseline and first follow-up waves, the PATH Study asks participants to update their information by completing a paper or the web version of the Followup Tracking Participant Information Form. This form collects participant contact information, but it doesn’t include the names and contact information for two references who will always know how to locate the participant and new contact information for participants planning to move.

The proposed change to the Followup Tracking Participant Information Form involves two items. One is to ask for updated information on the two references who will always know how to locate the participant. The second is to ask participants who are planning to move when they plan to move and the contact information at their new location.

Collecting this information in this form is important because it will help the PATH Study locate participants after the baseline for the first follow-up wave. The PATH Study realized just recently that the current form omits these two important items. Making this change to include these items in the form now will allow the PATH Study to include these items during the rest of the baseline wave. The items are not expected to increase burden, or only to do so at the margin (approximately 1 to 2 minutes per participant). Moreover, only participants who need to update the names and contact information for two references who will always know how to locate them or who are planning to move will need to provide the information.