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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Bette Pollard, MPH, CHES, National Immunization Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, Mail Stop E-52, Atlanta, GA 30333, 404-639-8554, bep1@cdc.gov

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss a health education intervention, including its development and formative evaluation, that was designed to assist adults and adolescents in determining which vaccines they need. Adults and adolescents often do not know or do not remember which vaccines they have had and their immunization records may be unavailable. Additionally, busy healthcare providers may not have time to discuss immunizations. To assist adults and adolescents, the National Immunization Program, CDC, wanted to offer a quick, user-friendly, interactive program on the web that would help guide them in finding out about the immunizations they need. A multidisciplinary team developed an assessment tool, the “Vaccine Quiz,” to provide general guidelines about immunizations and encourage people to discuss suggested vaccines with their healthcare provider. The development team conducted a formative evaluation to observe pilot testers' interaction with the online Quiz. The pilot testers identified unclear terms, navigation problems, and shortcomings with the feedback. The developers observed that the pilot testers seemed overwhelmed by the amount of information displayed on the Quiz pages, appeared to be unclear about what actions to take, and became lost on the website and unsure about how to find their way back. This feedback indicated the need to streamline the Quiz and provide brief, succinct information with clear follow-up actions. The developers redesigned the Quiz to present only the most essential information, provide discrete action steps, and correct other problems identified by the pilot testers.

Learning Objectives:

• List two advantages of an online assessment tool to assist adults and adolescents in determining which vaccines they need.
• Discuss two benefits derived from formative evaluation when developing web-based assessment tools.

Keywords: Immunizations, Health Education Strategies

Related Web page: www2.cdc.gov/nip/adultImmSched/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered

Handout (.ppt format, 429.0 kb)