2.3. Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

Aspects of the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome (PICO) framework [23] were used to define the research question and translate it into a set of study inclusion and exclusion criteria:

Population: Adult working population (>15 years old) irrespective of occupation and nature of employment (e.g., full-time, part-time, temporary), not limited to any country or region;

Intervention/Exposure/Phenomenon of Interest: Workplace exposure to respiratory pathogens or work within an epidemic/pandemic environment; factors associated with exposure and outcomes within an epidemic/pandemic environment; and possible risk mitigation or intervention strategies that address these factors. Studies that had an explicit focus on clinical best practices or surgical/clinical guidelines were excluded. Studies that focused on the specific effectiveness properties of certain types of PPE and infection control procedures were also excluded;

Outcomes: We reviewed the work and health impacts of working during an epidemic or global pandemic, focusing broadly on physical and psychological outcomes; risk of infection; disaster response and preparedness; and workers’ compensation outcomes such as RTW following injury or illness. As a conservative measure, we did not limit the search strategy to specific types of work-health outcomes;

Study design: We considered all review types of qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods research. To be eligible, the reviews had to conform to systematic and reproducible search protocols and contain a synthesis of findings.

Only articles published in English were included based on the language proficiency of the research team.