An online educational resource to support infection prevention and control in schools: Results from a pilot study in Missouri

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need to provide schools with support for implementing infection prevention and control (IPC) measures. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services engaged the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology to develop the IPC Toolkit for Missouri Schools to train school-based IPC teams.

Methods: A needs assessment was conducted with Missouri school staff and IPC professionals, among other partners. Once the IPC Toolkit was developed, 8 school districts were selected to participate in a pilot program. Pre-/post-surveys and qualitative interviews were conducted to evaluate participants' experience with the IPC Toolkit.

Results: More than half of respondents to the presurvey reported that funding, clear guidance or guidelines, and training are needed to implement IPC practices more efficiently and effectively in schools. Participants in the pilot program agreed that the toolkit was engaging (98.94%), clear (100%), easy to navigate (97.87%), and supported learning (100%).

Discussion: The IPC Toolkit helped to increase self-reported knowledge about IPC practices, the confidence to implement IPC practices, the level of importance participants attributed to IPC, and the extent to which participants embraced IPC as a responsibility of their role.

Conclusions: This study could help inform the implementation of IPC educational materials for other elementary, middle, and high schools.