OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent school-aged children can learn hygiene-based nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and persist in these behavioral changes over the duration of an influenza season. If this can be done successfully, it may be a preferable pandemic mitigation strategy to much more disruptive strategies such as whole-scale school closure. METHODS: The Pittsburgh Influenza Prevention Project (PIPP) is a prospective, controlled, randomized trial of the effectiveness of a suite of hygiene-based NPIs in controlling influenza and related illnesses in elementary schools in the City of Pittsburgh. During the 2007-08 school year, the project measured adoption of NPIs by students in five elementary schools through surveys of home-room teachers before, during, and after influenza season. RESULTS: Results showed highly statistically significant improvement in students' daily practice of nearly all of the NPIs, including hand washing and sanitizer use and covering coughs and sneezes. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides evidence that children can learn, implement, and persist in the behaviors of a multilayered suite of NPIs over a typical flu season. These results will be useful to public health policy makers and practitioners considering methods of infectious disease prevention in school-based settings.
RCT Entities:
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent school-aged children can learn hygiene-based nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and persist in these behavioral changes over the duration of an influenza season. If this can be done successfully, it may be a preferable pandemic mitigation strategy to much more disruptive strategies such as whole-scale school closure. METHODS: The Pittsburgh Influenza Prevention Project (PIPP) is a prospective, controlled, randomized trial of the effectiveness of a suite of hygiene-based NPIs in controlling influenza and related illnesses in elementary schools in the City of Pittsburgh. During the 2007-08 school year, the project measured adoption of NPIs by students in five elementary schools through surveys of home-room teachers before, during, and after influenza season. RESULTS: Results showed highly statistically significant improvement in students' daily practice of nearly all of the NPIs, including hand washing and sanitizer use and covering coughs and sneezes. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides evidence that children can learn, implement, and persist in the behaviors of a multilayered suite of NPIs over a typical flu season. These results will be useful to public health policy makers and practitioners considering methods of infectious disease prevention in school-based settings.
Authors: T H Koep; S Jenkins; M E M Hammerlund; C Clemens; E Fracica; S C Ekker; F T Enders; W C Huskins; C Pierret Journal: J Community Med Health Educ Date: 2016-06-27
Authors: Samuel Stebbins; James H Stark; Ramakrishna Prasad; William W Thompson; Kiren Mitruka; Charles Rinaldo; Charles J Vukotich; Derek A T Cummings Journal: Influenza Other Respir Viruses Date: 2010-10-01 Impact factor: 4.380
Authors: Pere Godoy; Jesús Castilla; Miguel Delgado-Rodríguez; Vicente Martín; Núria Soldevila; Jordi Alonso; Jenaro Astray; Maretva Baricot; Rafael Cantón; Ady Castro; Fernando González-Candelas; José María Mayoral; José María Quintana; Tomás Pumarola; Sonia Tamames; Angela Domínguez Journal: Prev Med Date: 2012-04-23 Impact factor: 4.018