An Online Questionnaire: improving timeliness of outbreak investigations Amy E. Parry 1,2, K.Byron-Gray 1, D.Johnson 1, J.Raupach 1, M. McPherson 2 1. Communicable Disease Control Branch, SA Health, Australia 2. National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Australia December 2010

Outbreak Background Date23 rd – 26 th April 2010 (3 day camp) CDCB first informed28 th April 2010 (2 days later ) Camp attendees89 Reported ill46 SymptomsDiarrhoea Abdominal pain Nausea Participants under 3075%

Data Collection Method Options Option 1: Paper-based  Traditionally used  Manually print, pack, label, post  Relies on postage (both ways)  Manual entry of data

Data Collection Method Options Option 2: Online  Never previously been used in South Australia for an outbreak investigation

Why an online survey?  Young cohort  Available addresses  66% of South Australians had access to internet at home* * 2009 Australian Bureau of Statistics

Non-Responder Follow-up  After 1 week: reminder (n= 36)  At 2 weeks: reminder phone call (n=14)

Online vs Paper-Based  A recent paper based cohort study selected (n=328) Cohort study Multi-day camp situation  Timeliness and response rate of online compared with paper-based

Timeliness: 24 Hours Online Questionnaire 35% (9% in first hour) (n= 31 of 89) Paper Based Method 0% (n= 0 of 328)

Timeliness: Day 5 Online Questionnaire 65% (n=58 of 89) Paper Based Method 16% (n= 52 of 328)

Timeliness: Day 10 Online Questionnaire 78% (n= 69 of 89) Paper Based Method 50% (n= 164 of 328)

Overall Response Rate Online Questionnaire 83% (n=74 of 89) Paper Based Method 75% (n=246 of 328)

Timeliness: Participant Survey Completion Online Questionnaire 14 days (analysis at day 3) Paper Based Method 2 months

Reminder Phone Reminder Day1: 42% (n=31) Day 7: 92% (n=68) Day 3: initial analysis

Data Entry Online Questionnaire Minimal data entry necessary 2 of 74 manually entered Data Cleaning Paper Based Method Manually entered

Importance of Timeliness?  Higher quality information collected  Rapid public health action

Limitations  Shared accounts  Survey completeness for children  24 hour clock issues  Third party data storage  Comparison outbreak much larger

Conclusion  Easy tool to use  Cost efficient  Time efficient  Resource efficient  However, offsite data storage needs to be addressed

Acknowledgements  The outbreak investigation team  Field Supervisor: Dr Jane Raupach  ANU Supervisor: Michelle McPherson  SA Health  Australian Department of Health and Ageing for funding the MAE program  2009 and 2010 Australian MAE cohorts

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