Survey on Infection Preventive Behaviors for COVID-19 Among Children and Parents

Abstract

Introduction : We aimed to investigate the actual situation of infection preventive behaviors among children, and to investigate changes in parent-child physical contact during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method : We conducted an anonymous questionnaire survey among parents whose children attended the Cer-tified Public Childcare Center in Toyota City between February and March 2021. Descriptive statistics, uni-variate analysis (Spearmanʼs correlation coefficient, Fisherʼs exact test), and multivariate analysis were per-formed. Result : A total of 767 parents responded to the survey. Among them, 78.6% of parents and 76.2% of children always washed their hands when they got home.92.7% of parents and 68.9% of children always wore masks when going out. Breastfeeding and face-to-face contact tended to decrease compared to other behaviors (p ＜ 0.001), but there was most often no change in the frequency of parent-child physical contact. Conclusion : It was difficult for children to take the same infection preventive behaviors as adults. Changes in the frequency of parent-child physical contact were not observed in many parents and children.