Survey Questionnaire
In this survey, we are assessing [
1] provider attitudes towards talking to families about policy issues relevant to children’s health and [
2] provider attitudes toward advocating on their patients’ behalf.
In this survey, “policy issue” refers to an aspect of local, state, or federal laws or regulations that may impact children’s health. For example, a discussion of “gun-related policy” may involve the current gun-related laws and regulations, any proposed changes to these laws and regulations, and how an individual may become involved in advocacy related to these laws and regulations (by voting, rallying, petitioning, etc.). This is in contrast to family-specific screening (e.g. for food insecurity or poverty) and patient-specific anticipatory guidance (e.g. counseling about gun safety).
Please answer honestly. Your survey answers will be completely anonymous. This survey should take 5–10 min to complete.
Part 1: Discussing policy issues with families.
1. Do you believe that pediatricians should encourage parents and age-eligible patients to vote?
2. Do you think believe that pediatricians should provide families with information about how to contact their local/state/federal representatives?
3. Please rate your agreement with the following statement: “I believe that pediatricians should talk to families about current health policy issues affecting children”
(4 options: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree)
3a. For each of the specific policy issues below, please rate your agreement with the following statement: “I believe that pediatricians should talk to families about _________”:
(4 options for each: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly Agree)
- Immigration policy.
- Gun-related policy.
- Health insurance coverage and access to care.
- Price and access to medications.
- LGBTQ/Transgender health policy (including policies surrounding access to care and policies relating to discrimination).
- Parental leave / childcare-related policy.
- Policies related to food assistance programs (SNAP, WIC, etc.)
- Policies related to early childhood education (Early Intervention, Head Start, Universal Pre-K, etc.)
- Policies related to education for school-aged children (eg. charter schools).
- Vaccination-related policy.
4. How often do you currently talk to families about health policy issues affecting children?
(4 options: Never (0–25% of the time)/Rarely (25–50% of the time)/Sometimes (50–75% of the time)/Always (More than 75% of the time))
4a. How often do you currently talk to families about the following issues?
(4 options: Never (0–25% of the time)/Rarely (25–50% of the time)/Sometimes (50–75% of the time)/Always (More than 75% of the time))
- Immigration policy.
- Gun-related policy.
- Health insurance coverage and access to care.
- Price and access to medications.
- LGBTQ/Transgender health policy (including policies surrounding access to care and policies relating to discrimination).
- Parental leave / childcare-related policy.
- Policies related to food assistance programs (SNAP, WIC, etc.)
- Policies related to early childhood education (Early Intervention, Head Start, Universal Pre-K, etc.)
- Policies related to education for school-aged children (eg. charter schools).
- Vaccination-related policy.
5. What do you consider the major barriers to talking to families about these issues? (Select all that apply)
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I don’t think we should talk to families about health policy issues
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I don’t have time to talk to families about these issues
-
I don’t feel comfortable talking to families about these issues
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I worry that families will perceive conversations about health policy negatively
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I worry that my institution / organization will not approve of me discussing policy with patients
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I worry that these conversations will not be beneficial to patients and families
-
I don’t have enough information about these issues
-
Other: _____________
6. What do you think would help overcome these barriers? (check all that apply)
-
Informational handouts regarding relevant political issues
-
Templates in the electronic medical record related to relevant political issues
-
Survey showing a patient/family’s level of interest in political information
-
Having another member of the care team (SW, medical student, volunteer from an external organization) available to talk to interested families about relevant policy issues
-
I don’t think it is appropriate to talk about these issues
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I don’t think my institution / organization will allow me to talk about these issues / give out this information
-
Other: ______________
7. What suggestions do you have about how we can more effectively talk to families about relevant health policy issues?
(Free text)
Part 2: Physician public roles and advocacy.
8. How important is it for physicians to provide health-related expertise to local community-organizations (eg. School boards, parent-teacher organizations, athletic teams, and local media)?
(4 options: Not at all important/Not very important/Somewhat important/Very important)
9. In the past 3 years, have you provided health-related expertise to local community organizations?
- Yes.
- No.
10. How important is it for physicians to be politically involved (other than voting) in health-related matters at the local, state, or national level?
(4 options: Not at all important/Not very important/Somewhat important/Very important)
11. In the past 3 years, have you been politically active (other than voting) on a local health care issue?
- Yes.
- No.
12. How important is it for physicians to encourage medical organizations to advocate for the public’s health?
(4 options: Not at all important/Not very important/Somewhat important/Very important)
13. In the past 3 years, have you encouraged your professional society to address a public health or policy issue that is not primarily concerned with physician welfare?
- Yes.
- No.
Part 3: Provider characteristics.
14. What is your current provider role?
-
Resident Physician
-
Attending Physician
-
Nurse Practitioner
15. How many years have you been in practice since graduating from your medical school / nurse practitioner program?
- < 5 years.
- 5-15 years.
- > 15 years.
16. What is your main location of primary care practice?
17. What is your gender?
- Male.
- Female.
- Other (free text):
18. What is your ethnicity?
- White / Caucasian.
- Black / African American.
- Hispanic.
- Asian or Pacific Islander.
- American Indian or Alaskan Native.
- Other (free text).
19. What is your age?
(Free text)
20. What is your political affiliation?
-
Democrat
-
Republican
-
Libertarian
-
Green
-
Independent
-
Other: _________
-
Prefer not to say
21. Did you vote in the most recent presidential election (2016)?
22. Did you vote in the most recent congressional midterm election (2014)?
Focus Group Guide
At the start of each focus group, we shared a written summary of our key survey findings with all participants. We then facilitated the focus groups using the suggested questions below:
Interpreting Survey Results.
1. What do you think about these results? What do you find most interesting? What do you find most surprising?
Importance of Advocacy and Policy Discussions.
2. Do you think it is important for pediatricians to advocate on behalf of their patients? Why or why not?
3. Which health policy issues do you think are most important for pediatricians to bring up with their patients? Why do you think these issues are important?
Barriers to and Facilitators of Policy Discussions.
4. What do you think are the major barriers to talking to patients and families about health policy issues?
5. What do you think we could do to help providers more effectively talk to families about relevant health policy issues?
6. When it comes to talking to families about health policy issues, who do you think should be leading these discussions? (Eg. Physicians, nurses, social workers, medical assistants, etc.)
7. Is there anything else you would like to share with our team?