03/10/2025

NEWVEC Local Public Health Focus Group

March 25th from 10 am - 11 am

You are invited to participate in a focus group discussion on Tuesday, March 25th from 10:00 am - 11:00 am on Zoom to talk about your work as a public health director or staff member in Massachusetts.

• We want to learn about your experiences and challenges as a local public health director/staff member, along with what you think about how mosquito/tick control, surveillance, disease prevention, and related policy work is going in Massachusetts or New England in general.
• We are interested in how you manage/share data and what information you prioritize when making decisions.
• We want to hear about your communication with the public and collaborations with other professionals in your field.

• The focus group discussion will include 6-10 local public health directors/staff from MA, will take approximately 1 hr, will be recorded, and will occur over Zoom.
• All participants will have the option of either a $40 Amazon Gift Card or a $40 Dunkin Gift Card as a token of our gratitude for your help.

If you are interested in participating in this focus group, please fill out this short screening survey. (https://arcsapps.umassmed.edu/redcap/surveys/?s=DLWW9KDLXJ)

The New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases (NEWVEC) was formed in July 2022 and is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The NEWVEC team is interested in learning what is going well and what challenges might be interfering with public health entomology and vector control work. We will identify ways we might be able to support professionals working on all types of vector control and public health response across New England.

Participation is voluntary and the researchers will keep your identifiable information confidential. Our study findings will be presented in summary format and you will not be identified in any publications or presentations.

Thank you very much for your time. 

Sincerely,
Johanna Ravenhurst and Nora Finnerty
School of Public Health and Health Sciences, UMass Amherst

Please direct any questions to: Johanna Ravenhurst - jravenhu@umass.edu