Knowledge Attitude and Practice Towards Primary Immunization in Pakistani Parents; A Hospital Based Study

Abstract

Objective: To assess the impact of parental knowledge and attitude on their children immunization practices.

Study Design: Prospective longitudinal study.

Place and Duration of Study: Pak Emirates Military Hospital Rawalpindi, from Dec 2017 to Jun 2018.

Methodology: A sample of 318 parents was enrolled in the study to gauge the impact of parental knowledge and attitude on their children immunization practices. To know knowledge and attitude of the parents, a 10-prompt and a 6-prompt questionnaire was used respectively followed by the immunization status of their children.

Results: A total of 318 respondents were included in the study. Of them, 231(72%) were accompanied by both parents, 78 (24.5%) by mothers and only 9 (3%) by fathers. Out of the 10 diseases of Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI), only 20.8% (66) knew about ≥5 diseases. About inclusion of newer diseases to vaccination schedule 184 (57.9%) had the knowledge. Alarmingly, only 63 (19.8%) knew the correct ages at which various vaccines needed to be given. Despite this, 89.3 % (284) parents stated immunization to be necessary. Regarding the knowledge score, only 35.5 % (113) scored >7 on a 10 prompt questionnaire. Regarding attitude survey, 35.5 % (113) scored ≥5 on a 6 prompt questionnaire. A significant impact was recorded between means of father educational years when compared with positive attitude for vaccination (p=<0.001), while in the same way mother educational years had an insignificant impact on attitude (p=0.710).

Conclusions: Knowledge and attitude of parents, especially father’s, is the key factor in predicting practices of immunization in Pakistan.