Science Shops as key intermediary structures to respond to the current health research agenda bias: Evidence from the InSPIRES project.

INTRODUCTION: To increase the likelihood of research responding to societal needs, intermediary structures such as Science Shops are being created. Science Shops respond to research needs identified and prioritized through participatory processes involving civil society. However, these are not mainstream structures, and most research needs addressed by the scientific community are not defined by a diversity of stakeholders (including citizens) but are mostly prioritized by researchers and funders. Literature shows this often leads to bias between the research topics investigated and the research needs of other relevant stakeholders. This study analyses how 14 Science Shops contribute to decreasing bias in health research agenda setting. METHODOLOGY: We compare the research priorities identified through participatory processes by the Science Shops, which participated in the European Union-funded project InSPIRES (2017-2021), to the available research addressed in the literature (identified in Web of Science), which we use as a proxy for current research priorities. RESULTS: Science Shop projects contributed to decreasing the existing bias in health research agenda setting: (1) between drug and nondrug treatments and (2) between clinical trials of treatments for illnesses affecting high-income versus middle- and low-income countries, which leads to a lack of local strategies for high disease burdens in nonhigh-income regions. CONCLUSION: This study provides the first evidence of Science Shops' effectiveness in addressing current biases in health research agenda setting. We conclude they could play a key role in shaping local, national and international research policies.

A System-Oriented Dialogue Model to Design Community Partnerships for More Effective Sars-Cov-2 Prevention in Schools: The Case of Spain.

Objectives: The European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) COVID-19 guidelines for non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) identify safety, hygiene and physical distancing measures to control SARS-Cov-2 transmission in schools. Because their implementation requires complicated changes, the guidelines also include "accompanying measures" of risk communication, health literacy and community engagement. Although these are considered crucial, their implementation is complex. This study aimed to co-define a community partnership that a) identifies systemic barriers and b) designs recommendations on how to implement the NPI to improve SARS-Cov-2 prevention in schools. Methods: We designed and piloted a System-Oriented Dialogue Model with the participation of 44 teachers and 868 students and their parents from six Spanish schools during 2021. The results were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Participants identified 406 items addressing issues related to system characteristics, which is indicative of the complexity of the challenge. Using a thematic analysis, we defined 14 recommendations covering five categories. Conclusion: These findings could help in developing guidelines for initiating community engagement partnerships in schools to provide more integrated prevention interventions.

Study protocol for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 infection and its determinants in Catalonia (Spain): an observational and participatory research approach in a Sentinel Network of Schools.

INTRODUCTION: Since the SARS-CoV-2 became of concern in January 2020, many preventive measures have been adopted in educational settings to ensure the control of COVID-19 pandemic among children and staff in schools. This study aims to set up a school sentinel surveillance network with the purpose of monitoring SARS-CoV-2 infection, seroprevalence as well as to analyse the impact of preventive interventions of SARS-CoV-2 in school settings. Additionally, we will assess diverse screening strategies in a cohort of students and school staff to monitor the screening acceptance and its potential impact. Altogether, we hope this study will enable the design of more effective strategies for the prevention of COVID-19 spread. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The sentinel schools' study is a cross-sectional, school-based project including 26 participating sentinel schools in Catalonia (Spain). Children, adolescents and staff at the schools will be invited to participate. This project will be carried out from January 2021 to June 2022 as follows: (1) twice yearly serological testing and molecular SARS-CoV-2 detection and questionnaires covering SARS-CoV-2 symptoms, tests, health, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours; (2) an environmental evaluation carried out in different classrooms; (3) SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics and the impact of different variants among confirmed cases and classmates; (4) a participatory process by which the participants are invited to act as coinvestigators to evaluate prevention strategies and provide recommendations to improve COVID-19 prevention in schools. Descriptive analysis will be performed for the main variables collected. The incidence and seroprevalence will be calculated and the association with sociodemographic factors and school characteristics will be determined using multivariate logistic regression. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval was obtained from the IDIAPJGol and the Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron ethics committees. A report will be generated quarterly. Findings will be disseminated at national and international conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals.