title: Role of household factors in parental attitudes to pandemic influenza-related school closure in Japan: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To investigate how household background factors affect parental behavior during pandemic influenza-related school closures, we determined associations between such factors and three parental attitudes: "caring for the child", "taking leave from work", and "permitting out-of-home activities".
  
  
  METHODS
  A hypothetical pandemic influenza situation was presented and a questionnaire survey among households of 2146 schoolchildren from 6 schools was conducted. Odds ratios of background factors were estimated using univariate and multivariate logistic regression models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Responses pertaining to 1510 children indicated that junior high school (OR = 0.11), both parents working (OR = 0.03), and family including grandparent(s) or other relatives (OR = 7.50) were factors associated with "caring for the child", and elementary school (OR = 2.28), special education school (OR = 3.18), and both parents working (OR = 5.74) were associated with "taking leave from work". Having an older sibling (OR = 0.74) and awareness of the technical term for school closure (OR = 0.73) were factors associated with "permitting out-of-home activities".
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Not only work status but also other household factors may be associated with parental behaviors during pandemic influenza-related school closures.
authors.affiliation: Center for Health, Safety and Environmental Management, Shinshu University, 3-1-1 Asahi, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621, Japan. uchida01@shinshu-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Mitsuo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Shigeyuki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kawa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004519:Education, Special; D004651:Employment; D005190:Family; D005191:Family Characteristics; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007564:Japan; D016015:Logistic Models; D058873:Pandemics; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D012574:Schools; D035781:Siblings; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires