Identifying essential resource parameters for pandemic preparedness and response: an international Delphi study within the EU PANDEM-2 project.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the crucial role of healthcare and public health resource management, where scarcity impairs pandemic response resulting in increased disease transmission, delayed patient care and poorer health outcomes. In the EU PANDEM-2 project, we aimed to identify essential resource parameters for pandemic preparedness and response in the context of an emerging viral respiratory illness.

Design: After performing a systematic literature review, we conducted a Delphi study consisting of a structured questionnaire and consensus round with two separate panels of European public health experts (PHEs) and clinicians, respectively.

Determinants of Citizens' Intention to Participate in Self-Led Contact Tracing: Cross-Sectional Online Questionnaire Study.

Background: Contact tracing (CT) is a key intervention to contain outbreaks of communicable diseases. During large-scale outbreaks, public health services may lack the resources required to perform CT effectively. One way of mitigating this issue is to shift some of the tasks in CT normally performed by public health services to cases and their contacts, supported by digital tools.

Determinants of Dutch public health professionals' intention to use digital contact tracing support tools: A cross-sectional online questionnaire study.

Contact tracing (CT) can be a resource intensive task for public health services. To alleviate their workload and potentially accelerate the CT-process, public health professionals (PHPs) may transfer some tasks in the identification, notification, and monitoring of contacts to cases and their contacts themselves, using 'digital contact tracing support tools' (DCTS-tools). In this study, we aimed to identify determinants of PHPs' intention to use DCTS-tools.

Evaluating the Added Value of Digital Contact Tracing Support Tools for Citizens: Framework Development.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic revealed that with high infection rates, health services conducting contact tracing (CT) could become overburdened, leading to limited or incomplete CT. Digital CT support (DCTS) tools are designed to mimic traditional CT, by transferring a part of or all the tasks of CT into the hands of citizens. Besides saving time for health services, these tools may help to increase the number of contacts retrieved during the contact identification process, quantity and quality of contact details, and speed of the contact notification process.

Capturing Emerging Experiential Knowledge for Vaccination Guidelines Through Natural Language Processing: Proof-of-Concept Study.

Background: Experience-based knowledge and value considerations of health professionals, citizens, and patients are essential to formulate public health and clinical guidelines that are relevant and applicable to medical practice. Conventional methods for incorporating such knowledge into guideline development often involve a limited number of representatives and are considered to be time-consuming. Including experiential knowledge can be crucial during rapid guidance production in response to a pandemic but it is difficult to accomplish.

Evaluation of a Web-Based Culturally Sensitive Educational Video to Facilitate Informed Cervical Cancer Screening Decisions Among Turkish- and Moroccan-Dutch Women Aged 30 to 60 Years: Randomized Intervention Study.

Background: In the Netherlands, since 1996, a national cervical cancer (CC) screening program has been implemented for women aged 30 to 60 years. Regional screening organizations send an invitation letter and information brochure in Dutch to the home addresses of targeted women every 5 years. Although this screening is free of charge, Turkish- and Moroccan-Dutch women, especially, show low screening participation and limited informed decision-making (IDM).

The development of a culturally sensitive educational video: How to facilitate informed decisions on cervical cancer screening among Turkish- and Moroccan-Dutch women.

Background: In the Netherlands, all women aged 30-60 years are invited to participate in the national cervical cancer screening programme, which is aimed at early detection and treatment of precancerous lesions. One fourth of the Dutch population has a migration background, with Turkish and Moroccan immigrants being the largest immigrant populations. Turkish- and Moroccan-Dutch women show lower screening participation rates and a higher incidence of cervical cancer, compared to native Dutch women.

Online respondent-driven detection for enhanced contact tracing of close-contact infectious diseases: benefits and barriers for public health practice.

Background: Online respondent-driven detection (RDD) is a novel method of case finding that can enhance contact tracing (CT). However, the advantages and challenges of RDD for CT have not yet been investigated from the perspective of public health professionals (PHPs). Therefore, it remains unclear if, and under what circumstances, PHPs are willing to apply RDD for CT.

Applications and Recruitment Performance of Web-Based Respondent-Driven Sampling: Scoping Review.

Background: Web-based respondent-driven sampling is a novel sampling method for the recruitment of participants for generating population estimates, studying social network characteristics, and delivering health interventions. However, the application, barriers and facilitators, and recruitment performance of web-based respondent-driven sampling have not yet been systematically investigated.

Objective: Our objectives were to provide an overview of published research using web-based respondent-driven sampling and to investigate factors related to the recruitment performance of web-based respondent-driven sampling.

Decision-making, barriers, and facilitators regarding cervical cancer screening participation among Turkish and Moroccan women in the Netherlands: a focus group study.

Whether the lower Dutch cervical cancer (CC) screening participation of Turkish- and Moroccan-Dutch women is based on informed decision-making is unknown. Our aim was to explore how and why Turkish- and Moroccan-Dutch women decide to participate or not in the current Dutch CC screening programme as well as to learn their perceptions on self-sampling. Six focus group discussions were conducted between March and April 2019 with Turkish ( = 24) and Moroccan ( = 20) women in the Netherlands, aged 30-60 years.

An exploratory assessment of the preference for eHealth interventions to prevent HIV and sexually transmitted infections among men who have sex with men in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Background: Electronic health (eHealth) interventions are promising in HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) prevention among men who have sex with men (MSM), given a high rate of the Internet use in this population. This study determined the preferences for eHealth interventions to prevent HIV and STIs among MSM in Hanoi, Vietnam to guide the development of future eHealth interventions.

Methods: Five focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted with 35 MSM recruited by purposive sampling in January 2018 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Clustering of chronic hepatitis B screening intentions in social networks of Moroccan immigrants in the Netherlands.

Background: Early detection, identification, and treatment of chronic hepatitis B through screening is vital for those at increased risk, e.g. born in hepatitis B endemic countries.

A stochastic simulation model to study respondent-driven recruitment.

Respondent-driven detection is a chain recruitment method used to sample contact persons of infected persons in order to enhance case finding. It starts with initial individuals, so-called seeds, who are invited for participation. Afterwards, seeds receive a fixed number of coupons to invite individuals with whom they had contact during a specific time period.

Hepatitis B in Moroccan-Dutch: a quantitative study into determinants of screening participation.

Background: In November 2016, the Dutch Health Council recommended hepatitis B (HBV) screening for first-generation immigrants from HBV endemic countries. However, these communities show relatively low attendance rates for screening programmes, and our knowledge on their participation behaviour is limited. We identified determinants associated with the intention to request an HBV screening test in first-generation Moroccan-Dutch immigrants.

Hepatitis B in Moroccan-Dutch: a qualitative study into determinants of screening participation.

Background: Chronic hepatitis B (HBV) leads to an increased risk for liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. In the Netherlands, chronic HBV prevalence in the general population is 0.20%, but 3.

Tracking social contact networks with online respondent-driven detection: who recruits whom?

Background: Transmission of respiratory pathogens in a population depends on the contact network patterns of individuals. To accurately understand and explain epidemic behaviour information on contact networks is required, but only limited empirical data is available. Online respondent-driven detection can provide relevant epidemiological data on numbers of contact persons and dynamics of contacts between pairs of individuals.

Enhancing Syndromic Surveillance With Online Respondent-Driven Detection.

Objectives: We investigated the feasibility of combining an online chain recruitment method (respondent-driven detection) and participatory surveillance panels to collect previously undetected information on infectious diseases via social networks of participants.

Methods: In 2014, volunteers from 2 large panels in the Netherlands were invited to complete a survey focusing on symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections and to invite 4 individuals they had met in the preceding 2 weeks to take part in the study. We compared sociodemographic characteristics among panel participants, individuals who volunteered for our survey, and individuals recruited via respondent-driven detection.

Comparison of contact patterns relevant for transmission of respiratory pathogens in Thailand and The Netherlands using respondent-driven sampling.

Understanding infection dynamics of respiratory diseases requires the identification and quantification of behavioural, social and environmental factors that permit the transmission of these infections between humans. Little empirical information is available about contact patterns within real-world social networks, let alone on differences in these contact networks between populations that differ considerably on a socio-cultural level. Here we compared contact network data that were collected in The Netherlands and Thailand using a similar online respondent-driven method.

Online respondent-driven sampling for studying contact patterns relevant for the spread of close-contact pathogens: a pilot study in Thailand.

Background: Information on social interactions is needed to understand the spread of airborne infections through a population. Previous studies mostly collected egocentric information of independent respondents with self-reported information about contacts. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is a sampling technique allowing respondents to recruit contacts from their social network.

Development of a resource modelling tool to support decision makers in pandemic influenza preparedness: The AsiaFluCap Simulator.

Background: Health care planning for pandemic influenza is a challenging task which requires predictive models by which the impact of different response strategies can be evaluated. However, current preparedness plans and simulations exercises, as well as freely available simulation models previously made for policy makers, do not explicitly address the availability of health care resources or determine the impact of shortages on public health. Nevertheless, the feasibility of health systems to implement response measures or interventions described in plans and trained in exercises depends on the available resource capacity.

Choosing pandemic parameters for pandemic preparedness planning: a comparison of pandemic scenarios prior to and following the influenza A(H1N1) 2009 pandemic.

Background: Mathematical models are used to explore various possible scenarios with regard to an influenza pandemic. We studied the ranges of parameter values in modelling studies on preparedness prior to 2009 in relation to the estimated parameter values of the influenza A(H1N1) 2009 pandemic.

Methods And Findings: We conducted two systematic literature searches, one aimed at epidemic parameter values that were used in pre-2009 pandemic influenza models, and the other aimed at estimates of epidemic variables from data collected during the influenza A(H1N1) 2009 pandemic.