Table 1.
Characteristics of 18 included studies of adoption, use and effectiveness of DCT interventions in the Western Pacific Region.
| Country/area | DCT characteristics 1. Name 2. Tool 3. Technology 4. Data processing |
Study ID | Aim of study | Study design | Data collection period | Population description | Method of recruitment | Number of participants included in analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 1. COVIDSafe 2. Smartphone application 3. Proximity trails (Bluetooth) 4. Centralised |
Garrett 202114 | Assess attitudes towards three tracking technologies prior to the launch of COVIDSafe, and compare to usage of the COVIDSafe app after launch. | Repeated cross-sectional study | Apr-20 | Representative sample of the Australian public aged 18 years and older stratified by gender, age and state. | Online survey | 878 |
| Vogt 20225 | Assess the effectiveness and usefulness of COVIDSafe in New South Wales. | Mixed methods study | May-20 – Nov-20 | All individuals with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection aged 12 years and older in NSW during the study period. | Public health data registry | 619 | ||
| Thomas 202015 | Investigate the uptake of the Australian Government's COVIDSafe app among Australians and examine the reasons why some Australians have not downloaded the app. | Cross-sectional study | May-20 | Australian residents aged 18 years or older. Participants were excluded if they were a health care professional or had been tested for COVID-19. | Online survey | 1500 | ||
| Degeling 202116 | Report on six online deliberative workshops in New South Wales to provide recommendations on the appropriateness of using the COVIDSafe app to enhance contact tracing capacity in Australia. | Qualitative research | Jun-20 – Jul-20 | Research volunteers and respondents to a social media campaign. Workshop participants were selected from the convenience sampling frame based on representative socio-demographic characteristics. | Voluntary | 43 | ||
| Lockey 202117 | Profile adopters and non-adopters of Australia's COVIDSafe app. | Cross-sectional study | Jun-20 – Jul-20 | Australian adults aged over 18 years | Research panel database | 2575 | ||
| Fiji | 1. careFIJI 2. Smartphone application 3. Proximity trails (Bluetooth); QR code location check-in 4. Decentralised |
Chand 202118 | Discuss rollout of the careFIJI app for COVID-19 contact tracing in Fiji. | Text and opinion | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Japan | 1. COCOA 2. Smartphone application 3. Proximity trails (Bluetooth) 4. Decentralised |
Kawakami 202119 | Investigate the association of downloading a COVID-19 contact tracing app, the COVID-19 Contact Confirming Application (COCOA), released by the Japanese government, with worry about COVID-19 and psychological distress in a sample of employed adults in Japan. | Cohort study | May-20 – Aug-20 | Full-time employees | Online survey | 996 |
| Gotanda 202120 | Examine whether the practice of preventive measures against COVID-19 differs by one's level of trust in government. | Cross-sectional study | Aug-20 – Sep-20 | Japanese individuals aged 15–79 years participating in the Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey | Online survey | 25,482 | ||
| Shoji 202121 | Examine the role of individual prosociality and other factors such as perceived risk and trust in government, in encouraging the usage of contact tracing apps in Japan. | Cross-sectional study | Dec-20 | 68,480 people were selected and invited to participate in the survey from 4.65 million registrants of a large survey company in Japan. | Online survey | 5402 | ||
| Ishimaru 202122 | Identify industry and workplace characteristics associated with the downloading of COCOA, the COVID-19 contact tracing app in Japan. | Cross-sectional study | Dec-20 | Participants in an online cohort study on COVID-19 and work. | Online survey | 27,036 | ||
| New Zealand | 1. NZ COVID Tracer 2. Smartphone application 3. QR code location check-in 4. Decentralised |
Tretiakov 202123 | Explore how users experience the NZ COVID Tracer app in their everyday contexts, and identify determinants of app use. | Qualitative research | Oct-20 – Nov-20 | Residents in Auckland aged 18–64 years who were users of the NZ COVID Tracer app. | Online survey | 34 |
| Gasteiger 202124 | Explore the barriers and facilitators to the general public's use of the NZ COVID Tracer app. | Cross-sectional study | Not stated | Adults 18 years and older participating in the COVID-19 Stress and Health study | Voluntary | 380 | ||
| Ali 202225 | Describe usage behaviour, motivations for use and determinants of use of the NZ COVID Tracer app in the general population. | Cross-sectional study | Not stated | Self-selected respondents to online survey | Online survey | 261 | ||
| Singapore | 1. TraceTogether 2. Smartphone application 3. Proximity trails (Bluetooth) 4. Centralised |
Saw 202126 | Identify the characteristics of individuals or factors associated with voluntary downloads of TraceTogether in Singapore. | Cross-sectional study | Apr-20 – Jul-20 | Adults aged 21 years or older who were resident in Singapore for a minimum of two years | Online survey | 505 |
| Huang 202027 | Compare the performance of the contact tracing app "TraceTogether” with that of a wearable tag-based real-time locating system (RTLS). | Diagnostic test accuracy study | May-20 | 18 physicians during a 10-day posting at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases COVID-19 screening centre, and patients attending the centre over the same time period. | Employees | 18 | ||
| Huang 202128 | Assess the awareness of, willingness to use (acceptance) and actual use (adoption) of TraceTogether in Singapore. | Cross-sectional study | Jul-20 – Dec-20 | Patients and caregivers attending two outpatient clinics at Tan Tock Seng Hospital | Clinic patients | 3240 | ||
| Huang 202229 | Assess the factors influencing the acceptance and adoption of TraceTogether during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Repeated cross-sectional study | Jul-20 – Feb-21 | Patients and visitors of two outpatient clinics at Tan Tock Seng Hospital | Clinic patients | 3943 | ||
| Lee 202130 | Examine normative influences (descriptive and injunctive norms) on TraceTogether device use for contact tracing purposes. | Repeated cross-sectional survey | Jan-21 – Feb-21 | Representative sample of Singapore residents aged 21 years or older who had downloaded TraceTogether or received a token, sampled from a voluntary research panel. | Online survey | 1137 |