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Use of Interviewer-Administered Telephone Surveys during Infectious Disease Outbreaks, Epidemics, and Pandemics: A Scoping Review

Introduction During the COVID-19 crisis, researchers had to collect data remotely. Telephone surveys and interviews can quickly gather data from a distance without heavy expense. Although interviewer-administered telephone surveys (IATS) can accommodate the needs in international public health research, the literature on its use during infectious disease outbreaks is scarce. This scoping review aimed to map characteristics of IATS during infectious disease outbreaks. Methods IATS conducted principally during infectious disease outbreaks and answered by informants at least 18 years old were searched from PubMed and EBSCO. There was a manual addition of relevant documents identified during an initial search. Global trends were reported using different groupings, and study details were compared between before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results 70 IATS published between 2003 and 2022 were identified. 57.1 % were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some changes in the use of this data collection modality were observed. The proportion of IATS in LMICs rose from 3.3 % before the COVID-19 pandemic to 32.5 %. The share of qualitative studies grew from 6.7 % to 32.5 %. IATS performed during the COVID-19 pandemic focused on more diverse, specific population groups, such as patients and healthcare professionals. The usage of mobile phones to do IATS studies increased from 3.3 % to 25.0 %. Conclusion IATS are used globally with high frequency in the Western Pacific Region and high income countries. During the COVID-19 pandemic, IATS was performed in more countries to investigate more diverse target populations. Nonetheless, researchers should consider how to address technical and financial challenges for ITAS to be more inclusive and representative. For better use and more efficient deployment of IATS, methodological details need to be exchanged.