“Environmental Health and Land Reuse Certificate Training”
(formerly “Assessment of Environmental Health and Land Reuse Certification Training”)
OMB Control No. 0923-0060, discontinued 08/31/2022
Reinstatement with Change
Supporting Statement Part B –
Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods
Program Official/Project Officer: Laurel Berman, PhD
Title: National Brownfields Coordinator
Phone: 312-886-7476
Email: fjq0@cdc.gov
Fax: 312-886-6066
Date: 07/19/2023
B.1. Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods 1
B.2. Procedures for the Collection of Information 1
B.3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates and Deal with No Response 1
B.4. Test of Procedures or Methods to be Undertaken 1
B.5. Individuals Consulted on Statistical Aspects and Individuals Collecting and/or Analyzing Data 1
Part B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods
Under this reinstatement with change information collection request (ICR), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) Environmental Health and Land Reuse (EHLR) Certification program is seeking a three-year PRA clearance for its 10-hr classroom “EHLR Basic Course” and a new 20-hr conference-based “EHLR Immersion Training.”
In the past three years, ATSDR and its collaborator, the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) developed an Environmental Health and Land Reuse (EHLR) Certification program under a cooperative agreement ending on July 31, 2023. The program consists of a 10-hour “EHLR Basic Course” and a new 20-hour conference based “EHLR Immersion Training.” ATSDR hosts the classroom “EHLR Basic Course” and maintains the “EHLR Immersion Training.” NEHA independently hosts its own non-sponsored “EHLR Basic Course” online. 1
Target participants for both the “EHLR Basic Course” and the “EHLR Immersion Course” are environmental health professionals but also may include partners they work with and students, such as planners, students in environmental health/public health, and environmental non-profits. The project involves no statistical sampling methods. The respondents are a convenience sample of environmental health professionals who register for EHLR training.
Data Collection
For the classroom “EHLR Basic Course,” participants will provide their name, email, and job title, as part of online or electronic survey registration (Attachments 3, 3a). The “EHLR Basic Course” consists of five modules. For each module, participants are requested to complete an online, voluntary self-assessment (knowledge assessment) (Attachments 4a – 4e), using an anonymous REDCap survey link provided in the course content. In rare and unusual circumstances, such as an Internet blackout, ATSDR will provide paper copies of the self-assessment.
Similarly, for the “EHLR Immersion Training,” participants will provide their name, email, and job title, as part of electronic or online conference registration (Attachments 3, 3a). The conference based “EHLR Immersion Training” consists of three modules. For each module, participants are requested to complete an anonymous, online self-assessment (by REDCap) at the completion of each module (Attachments 5a – 5c). Hard copies will be used only under extraneous circumstances.
NEHA will continue to support course credentialing and certification for ATSDR’s classroom-based “EHLR Basic Course” and for ATSDR’s new conference-based “EHLR Immersion Training.” To comply with Privacy Act requirements, the ATSDR Course Director will provide Privacy Act opt-out forms to participants who do not want their identities shared with NEHA (Attachment 3b). In these circumstances, NEHA will not issue Certificates of Completion or CEUs. See Section A.10 for a description of the steps the ATSDR Course Director will take to provide this opportunity to participants.
Data Analysis
In this reinstatement with change ICR, ATSDR and NEHA intend to collaborate in the evaluation of the information gathered. The ATSDR Land Reuse Program Lead plans to transfer the deidentified EHLR information into Excel files for data analysis. NEHA may also choose to share deidentified information gathered from its online EHLR Basic Course for merging and analysis.
ATSDR and NEHA plan to jointly characterize participant registration data in terms of the total number of Certification participants (e.g., sum) and their job titles. They also plan to analyze participant feedback and self-assessment feedback. ATSDR intends to focus on self-assessment data only to gauge the effectiveness of the various contents of the EHLR trainings. ATSDR may ask for assistance from an ATSDR statistician to determine if the self-assessment data from the EHLR courses may benefit from further analysis (e.g., using SAS). The self-assessment questions are provided in Attachments 4a – 4e and 5a – 5c.
Summary results of such training evaluations may be published in peer-reviewed journals or presented in conference venues.
There are no methods used to maximize responses or to deal with no responses. The responses to be provided by participants who complete the course evaluations and self-assessments will be summarized by ATSDR and then used by ATSDR to assess potential increases in participants’ capacity and knowledge in environmental health and land reuse skills in future trainings.
Under the previous PRA clearance, ATSDR conducted the one-time follow up of the 10-hour “EHLR Basic Course” in May and June of 2022. The follow up was conducted within 12 months post-training for a subset of training participants. The evaluation data and feedback information helped ATSDR determine impacts of the EHLR certification courses in building capacity and skills among environmental professionals in environmental health and land reuse. In addition, ATSDR used the feedback from course participants to enhance existing course materials or create new materials.
ATSDR pilot tested a prototype of the new “EHLR Immersion Training” among a class of nine participants in July 2022.
ATSDR is currently funding NEHA (through July 2023) to collaboratively pilot and finalize the course content of ATSDR’s new “EHLR Immersion Training.” ATSDR will conduct additional pilot testing for the course content of the “EHLR Immersion Training” modules within the next 12 months, among audiences of approximately 10-25 people. The generic information collection (GenIC) was approved on 03/01/2023 under “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery” (OMB Control No. 0923-0047, expiration date 02/28/2025).
As summarized in Tables 1 and 2, Laurel Berman of ATSDR’s Land Reuse Program (Lead, Director of EHLR Activities) designed the data collection, and collected (and continues to collect) and will analyze the data using Excel. ATSDR statistician, Michael Lewin, will refine the data analysis to test for statistical differences using SAS.
ATSDR’s Land Reuse Program Lead and statistician may summarize data to share with partners from NEHA and one academic stakeholder partner. The partners include Sharon Unkart, Instructional Designer, NEHA; Becky Labbo, Program Evaluator, NEHA; and Serap Erdal, University of Illinois Chicago. ATSDR intermittently informs these partners about aspects of the data collection and will share preliminary results to facilitate collaborative development of manuscripts and presentations. In addition, NEHA will provide deidentified EHLR Online data to ATSDR’s Land Reuse Program Lead to enable comparison of EHLR Classroom and EHLR Online modalities.
Example Table 1. Personnel Consulted on Statistical Design
Name |
Title |
Affiliation |
Phone |
||
FEDERAL AGENCY |
|||||
Michael Lewin, PhD |
Mathematical Statistician |
ATSDR |
770-488-3812 |
||
Example Table 2. Personnel Responsible for Collection and Analysis of Information
Name |
Title |
Affiliation |
Phone |
|
Laurel Berman, PhD |
Environmental Health Scientist (Land Reuse Lead/Director) |
ATSDR |
312-886-7476 |
|
Michael Lewin, PhD |
Mathematical Statistician |
ATSDR |
770-488-3812 |
1 NEHA independently hosts its online/asynchronous 10-hour EHLR Basic course that contains the same content as the ATSDR classroom course. ATSDR is not seeking PRA clearance for the NEHA training. ATSDR is currently funding NEHA (through July 2023) to collaboratively pilot and finalize the course content of ATSDR’s new “Immersion Training.”
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Richardson, Tony (CDC/OD/OADS) |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2023-08-18 |