Table 1.
Characteristics of included studies and key results.
| Study | Country | Disease | Design and method | Participants (N, Age, % male) | Quarantine protocol | Adherence rates | Factors associated with adherence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reasons given for adherence behaviour | |||||||
| Braunack-mayer 2013 | Australia | Swine flu | Qualitative, interviews | School principals, staff, parents and students in five schools from an Australian city (56, -,-) | Home quarantine for seven days | – | Knowledge, Sociocultural factors |
| Caleo 2008 | Sierra Leone | Ebola | Qualitative, semi structured face-to-face interviews | Households with and without Ebola cases and key community informants from a rural village (48, 18 (median), 47.3) | Restriction of movements during August 2014 | – | Knowledge, Sociocultural factors, Perceived benefit of quarantine |
| Cava 2005 | Canada | SARS | Qualitative, semi-structured face-to-face interviews | Individuals who had been quarantined (21, 18->65, 23.8) | Home quarantine for 10 days | “People adhered with differing levels of vigilance” | Sociocultural factors, Perceived risk of disease, Practicalities |
| Desclaux 2017 | Senegal | Ebola | Qualitative, semi-structured face-to-face interviews | Adult contact subjects and community volunteers (70, -, -) | Daily check-ups for physical symptoms with social distancing for 21 days | – | Knowledge, Sociocultural factors, Perceived risk of disease, Trust in government |
| DiGiovanni 2004 | Canada | SARS | Qualitative, unstructured and structured face-to-fact interviews, telephone polling, focus groups | Toronto residents affected by the SARS epidemic, affected by quarantine, and HCWs who had been quarantined (∼1800, -, -) | Home quarantine for up to10 days | – | Socio-cultural factors, Perceived benefit of quarantine, Practicalities, |
| Pellechia 2015 | Liberia | Ebola | Qualitative, focus groups and face-to-face semi-structured interviews | Individuals from 7 neighbourhoods and 5 villages (462, -, 60.6 | State enforced home and neighbourhood quarantine for 21 days | – | Practicalities |
| Teh 2012 | Australia | Swine flu | Quantitative, retrospective cohort study, telephone questionnaire | Participants tested for H1N1 and who were prescribed quarantine (538, -, -) | Home quarantine for seven days | 92.8% reported adherence to quarantine measures | Practicalities, Perceived risk of disease |
| Factors tested for associations with adherence behaviour | |||||||
| Hsu 2006 | Taiwan | SARS | Quantitative, cross-sectional paper questionnaire | HCWs in charge of SARS epidemic control at Health Centres in Taiwan (301, ≤30 - ≥50, -) | Home quarantine for 10–14 days | 0% - all nurses reported poor adherence from quarantined individuals | Quarantine support characteristics, Knowledge, Perceived risk of disease |
| Kavanagh 2011 | Australia | Swine flu | Quantitative, Cross-sectional online or telephone questionnaire | Parents from households with children who were placed in quarantine during the outbreak (297, -, 14.5) | Prescribed home quarantine for 1–14 days | 53% reported full adherence with quarantine within their household. | Knowledge |
| Kavanagh 2012 | Australia | Swine flu | Quantitative, Cross-sectional online or telephone questionnaire | Parents who were employed from households with children who were placed in quarantine during the outbreak (113, -, -) | Prescribed home quarantine for 1–14 days | Half of all households fully adhered with quarantine recommendations. | Individual characteristics |
| McVernon 2011 | Australia | Swine flu | Quantitative, Cross-sectional online or telephone questionnaire | Parents from households with children who were placed in quarantine during the outbreak (314, -, -) | Prescribed home quarantine for 1–14 days | 84.5% reported full adherence at household level | Length of quarantine, Perceived risk of disease, Practicalities |
| Porten 2006 | Germany | SARS | Quantitative, cross-sectional paper questionnaire | Respondents from local health departments (280, -, -) | Home quarantine for 10 days | - | Individual characteristics |
| Reynolds 2008 | Canada | SARS | Quantitative, cross-sectional paper questionnaire | Adults who were placed in quarantine (1057, 49.2, 37) | Prescribed home or work (for HCWs) quarantine for 2–10 days | 15.8% full adherence with all quarantine measures | Individual characteristics, Perceived risk of disease |
| Soud 2009 | United States | Mumps | Quantitative, cross-sectional telephone or face-to-face questionnaire | Students at a Kansas University with suspected mumps instructed to stay isolated (132, <20- ≥22, 37) | Prescribed home quarantine for 1–9 days | 75% stayed isolated for recommended number of days | Length of quarantine, Perceived benefit of quarantine, Individual characteristics |
Note: -, not reported, HCWs Healthcare Workers.
In many cases, it was not clear how long participants were quarantine for. In these instances, we have given the best estimates based on guidance by public health officials at that time. SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome.