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Nursery school absenteeism surveillance system and infection control measures in nursery schools
Kyoko Mukasa1, Tamie Sugawara2, Yoichi Okutomi3
1Department of Social Welfare, Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, Showa Women's University, Japan.
Insights
The Nursery School Absenteeism Surveillance System (NSASSy) in Japan was linked to better parent cooperation and health recording in nursery schools. This study addresses potential biases in evaluating infectious disease countermeasures.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
- Infectious Disease Surveillance
Background:
- The Nursery School Absenteeism Surveillance System (NSASSy) covers 40% of Japanese nursery schools.
- Evaluating the precise incidence of infectious diseases in nursery schools with and without NSASSy presents challenges.
- This study investigates nursery school countermeasures against infectious diseases, accounting for NSASSy's endogeneity bias.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the effectiveness of nursery school countermeasures against infectious diseases.
- To address the endogeneity bias associated with the Nursery School Absenteeism Surveillance System (NSASSy).
- To determine if NSASSy participation influences specific infection control measures in nursery schools.
Main Methods:
- A questionnaire survey was distributed to 500 nursery schools in Tokyo and surrounding areas in November 2022.
- Data collected included infection control measures such as cooperation with health centers, staff, parents, and children, as well as countermeasure and precaution systems.
- Ordered probit with inverse probability weighted adjustment was employed, using NSASSy participation as the explanatory variable, controlling for public funding and local government adoption of NSASSy.
Main Results:
- Analysis of 193 nursery schools revealed a significant negative association between NSASSy participation and cooperation with children's parents.
- NSASSy participation was also significantly negatively associated with the recording of children's health conditions.
- Nursery schools utilizing NSASSy were more likely to implement these specific countermeasures.
Conclusions:
- Nursery School Absenteeism Surveillance System (NSASSy) participation is associated with improved cooperation with parents and better health recording in nursery schools.
- These findings suggest NSASSy may positively influence the adoption of key infection control practices.
- Further research is warranted to fully understand the impact of NSASSy on infectious disease surveillance and control in early childhood education settings.
Introduction:
The Nursery School Absenteeism Surveillance System (NSASSy), which includes 40% of all nursery schools in Japan, has a degree of effectiveness that is difficult to prove: nursery schools and areas without NSASSy cannot be evaluated for their incidence of infectious diseases as precisely as those with NSASSy. Instead, we examine nursery school countermeasures against infectious diseases by considering the endogeneity bias of NSASSy.
Method:
After sending questionnaires to 500 Tokyo metropolitan and nearby nursery schools in November 2022, we received their responses through the end of 2022. Questionnaires asked about infection control measures of nursery schools: (1) cooperation with public health centers; (2) cooperation with staff; (3) cooperation with children's parents; (4) precautions among children; (5) countermeasure systems; (6) precaution systems; (7) recording of health conditions of children; (8) usefulness of studying while students; and (9) usefulness of training at nursery schools. Ordered probit with inverse probability weighted adjustment was used as the estimation procedure. The explanatory variable was a dummy variable for using NSASSy. Probability in weight was estimated using the first-step probit for NSASSy. Explanatory variables were a dummy variable for publicly funded nursery schools and a dummy variable for local governments that had adopted NSASSy.
Results:
We analyzed 193 nursery schools. NSASSy was negative and associated significantly with (3) cooperation with children's parents and (7) recording of health conditions of children. These countermeasures were more likely to have been taken by NSASSy nursery schools.
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