Attitudes and perceptions of parents/legal guardians regarding vaccination: case study at primary and nursery schools in the Attica region except for islands

Postgraduate Thesis uoadl:2778693 434 Read counter

Unit:
ΠΜΣ Σχεδιασμός και Διοίκηση Υπηρεσιών Υγείας
Library of the School of Health Sciences
Deposit date:
2018-07-16
Year:
2018
Author:
Thalassinou Maria
Supervisors info:
Χλέτσος Μιχάλης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Οικονομικών Επιστημών, Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων
Τούντας Γιάννης, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Μαρία Καντζανού, Επίκ. Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Στάσεις και αντιλήψεις των γονέων/κηδεμόνων αναφορικά με τον εμβολιασμό: μελέτη σε σχολεία πρωτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης της περιφέρειας Αττικής πλην νήσων
Languages:
Greek
Translated title:
Attitudes and perceptions of parents/legal guardians regarding vaccination: case study at primary and nursery schools in the Attica region except for islands
Summary:
Objective: Vaccination is a proven and cost-effective intervention in public health and its purpose is to eliminate mortality from the diseases for which vaccines are available. To achieve this goal both compliance with Greek National Immunization Program (NIP) and high levels of vaccination coverage of the population is prerequisite. The purpose of this study was to record the attitudes and perceptions of parents/legal guardians regarding vaccination which is an indirect assessment of the existence or no of «vaccine hesitancy».
Method: The study population was recruited from primary and nursery schools in the Attica region except for islands. The questionnaire (Google form) was posted to parents/ legal guardians associations in social network by their administrators. A total number of 309 questionnaires were completed.
Results: Of the parents/ legal guardians responding to the questionnaire, 88.1% followed the appropriate NIP and agreed that vaccines are important for the child's health and simultaneously effective and safe. The majority of parents/legal guardians were concerned about the side effects of vaccines while a significant percentage agreed that new vaccines carry more risks than older vaccines. 19.8% of parents/legal guardians appeared hesitant about vaccination while one out of five (17.5%) has refused to do at least one of the recommended vaccines.
Conclusions: Although few parents/ legal guardians were reluctant to vaccinate their children, the vast majority of parents have followed the recommendations of the NIP. It is crucial to investigate vaccine hesitancy at multiple levels in order to create effective strategies for addressing this phenomenon. The outcome of these policy practices makes the parents/ legal guardians realize again that the proven benefits of vaccinations far outweigh the potential risks.
Main subject category:
Health Sciences
Keywords:
Vaccines, Vaccination, Attitudes and perceptions, Parents/legal guardians, Hesitancy, National immunization program
Index:
No
Number of index pages:
0
Contains images:
Yes
Number of references:
130
Number of pages:
132
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