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Review
. 2015 Dec;36(12):1444-50.
doi: 10.1017/ice.2015.216. Epub 2015 Sep 18.

The Hawthorne Effect in Infection Prevention and Epidemiology

Luke F Chen  1 , Mark W Vander Weg  2 , David A Hofmann  3 , Heather Schacht Reisinger  2
Affiliations
Review

The Hawthorne Effect in Infection Prevention and Epidemiology

Luke F Chen et al. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2015 Dec.

Abstract

The Hawthorne Effect is a prevalent observer effect that causes behavioral changes among participants of epidemiological studies or infection control interventions. The purpose of the review is to describe the origins of the Hawthorne Effect, to understand the term in relation to current scientific literature, to describe characteristics of the Hawthorne effect, and to discuss methods to quantify and overcome limitations associated with the Hawthorne Effect.

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