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The impact of unplanned school closure on children's social contact: rapid evidence review.

ABSTRACT: BackgroundEmergency school closures are often used as public health interventions during infectious disease outbreaks to minimise the spread of infection. However, if children continue mixing with others outside the home during closures, the effect of these measures may be limited.AimThis review aimed to summarise existing literature on children's activities and contacts made outside the home during unplanned school closures.MethodsIn February 2020, we searched four databases, MEDLINE, PsycInfo, Embase and Web of Science, from inception to 5 February 2020 for papers published in English or Italian in peer-reviewed journals reporting on primary research exploring children's social activities during unplanned school closures. Main findings were extracted.ResultsA total of 3,343 citations were screened and 19 included in the review. Activities and social contacts appeared to decrease during closures, but contact remained common. All studies reported children leaving the home or being cared for by non-household members. There was some evidence that older child age (two studies) and parental disagreement (two studies) with closure were predictive of children leaving the home, and mixed evidence regarding the relationship between infection status and such. Parental agreement with closure was generally high, but some disagreed because of perceived low risk of infection and issues regarding childcare and financial impact.ConclusionEvidence suggests that many children continue to leave home and mix with others during school closures despite public health recommendations to avoid social contact. This review of behaviour during unplanned school closures could be used to improve infectious disease modelling.

SUBMITTER: Brooks SK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7140596 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The impact of unplanned school closure on children's social contact: rapid evidence review.

Brooks Samantha K SK Smith Louise E LE Webster Rebecca K RK Weston Dale D Woodland Lisa L Hall Ian I Rubin G James GJ

Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin 20200401 13

BackgroundEmergency school closures are often used as public health interventions during infectious disease outbreaks to minimise the spread of infection. However, if children continue mixing with others outside the home during closures, the effect of these measures may be limited.AimThis review aimed to summarise existing literature on children's activities and contacts made outside the home during unplanned school closures.MethodsIn February 2020, we searched four databases, MEDLINE, PsycInfo, ...[more]

PMID: 32265006

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Project description:BackgroundHealth authorities recommend educating diabetic patients and their families and initiating measures aimed at improving self-management, promoting a positive behavior change, and reducing the risk of complications. Social media could provide valid channel to intervene in and deliver diabetes education. However, it is not well known whether the use of these channels in such interventions can help improve the patients' outcomes.ObjectiveThe objective of our study was to review and describe the current existing evidence on the use of social media in interventions targeting people affected with diabetes.MethodsA search was conducted across 4 databases (PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library).The quality of the evidence of the included primary studies was graded according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation criteria, and the risk of bias of systematic reviews was assessed by drawing on AMSTAR (A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews) guidelines. The outcomes reported by these studies were extracted and analyzed.ResultsWe included 20 moderate- and high-quality studies in the review: 17 primary studies and 3 systematic reviews. Of the 16 publications evaluating the effect on glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) of the interventions using social media, 13 reported significant reductions in HbA1c values. The 5 studies that measured satisfaction with the interventions using social media found positive effects. We found mixed evidence regarding the effect of interventions using social media on health-related quality of life (2 publications found positive effects and 3 found no differences) and on diabetes knowledge or empowerment (2 studies reported improvements and 2 reported no significant changes).ConclusionsThere is very little good-quality evidence on the use of social media in interventions aimed at helping people with diabetes. However, the use of these channels is mostly linked to benefits on patients' outcomes. Public health institutions, clinicians, and other stakeholders who aim at improving the knowledge of diabetic patients could consider the use of social media in their interventions.

Dataset Information

The impact of unplanned school closure on children's social contact: rapid evidence review.

Publications

The impact of unplanned school closure on children's social contact: rapid evidence review.

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