AFU GEN Questionnaire

Overview

The HCHS/SOL Steering Committee (SC) has authorized a very brief general interview (GEN) to be administered by telephone at the conclusion of the Year 19 HCHS/SOL Annual Follow-Up (AFU) interview. The purpose of the GEN is to collect information identified by the SC as having high scientific merit and value to the HCHS/SOL cohort.

HCHS/SOL investigators and their collaborators are invited to propose questionnaire content for inclusion in the GEN. Proposed content will be reviewed and selected by the SC based on scientific significance, feasibility, and relevance to HCHS/SOL research priorities.

Requirements for Proposed Questionnaire Content

Proposals must include sufficient information for the Steering Committee to evaluate the scientific and operational feasibility of the content.

Questionnaire Specifications

• Total administration time must not exceed 6 minutes.
• Items must be suitable for telephone administration and previously tested in a telephone interview setting whenever possible.
• Provide a clear scientific rationale for inclusion.
• Provide the source of all items (including Spanish-language version), specify whether part of a standardized instrument, validity and reliability of the scale, and whether used in similar study priorly.
• Yes/No response formats are preferred, and numeric continuous responses are acceptable. Likert-type response scales are generally not well suited for telephone administration and should be avoided whenever possible.

Implementation

The AFU is conducted across the full HCHS/SOL cohort over three contact years. The GEN will be administered immediately after completion of the Year 19 AFU interview, provided the participant agrees to answer “a few additional questions that we have not asked before.”

The Steering Committee will determine whether the GEN will be administered throughout the ~3yr AFU-19 contact period or during one year across all open AFU contact years. Participant response rates, data quality, and respondent burden will be monitored throughout implementation.

Development Process and Timeline

To allow sufficient time for review, programming, translation verification, training, and UNC sIRB approval, questionnaire content will be selected by November 2026. A centralized webinar training on the final GEN instrument is planned prior to implementation, which is targeted for March 2027.

Key Dates

Submission Instructions

Please submit all proposal materials no later than September 18, 2026 to HCHSAdministration@unc.edu and cc dsotres@unc.edu. Include in the subject line “AFU phone interview proposed by LAST NAME”