Introduction: We aimed to investigate the actual situation of infection preventive behaviors among children, and to investigate changes in parent-child physical contact during the COVID-19 pandemic.Method: We conducted an anonymous questionnaire survey among parents whose children attended the Certified Public Childcare Center in Toyota City between February and March 2021. Descriptive statistics, univariate analysis (Spearman's correlation coefficient, Fisher's exact test), and multivariate analysis were performed.Result: A total of 767 parents responded to the survey. Among them, 78.6% of parents and 76.2% of children always washed their hands when they got home.92.7% of parents and 68.9% of children always wore masks when going out. Breastfeeding and face-to-face contact tended to decrease compared to other behaviors (p < 0.001), but there was most often no change in the frequency of parent-child physical contact.Conclusion: It was difficult for children to take the same infection preventive behaviors as adults. Changes in the frequency of parent-child physical contact were not observed in many parents and children.

This study aimed to clarify whether a regional palliative care intervention program, the OPTIM project, increased home hospice utilization, and explore the potential association between the home hospice utilization and the hospital staff's perceptions on home care. A questionnaire survey was conducted involving 154 physicians and 469 nurses. The rate of patients who made the transition to home-based care increased 967% in A Hospital, 295% in B Hospital, and 221% in C Hospital in 2010 compared to 2007, which was assumed to be 100. Staff of a hospital where many patients made the transition to home-based care were more likely to agree with the following statements concerning home care perspectives: “I started to consider that even cancer patients can be treated at home until the last moment of their life”, “I usually ask patients whether they wish to receive home-based care”, “We decided on coping strategies for sudden changes in the course of disease and a place to contact in advance”, and “I started to simplify treatment procedures, such as prescriptions during hospitalization for patients and their families to prepare for home-based care“.