142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Appalachian parents' attitudes and beliefs towards the seasonal flu vaccine for themselves versus their child(ren)

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Sunday, November 16, 2014

Jennifer M. Kowalsky, MS , Department of Psychology & Department of Social and Public Health, Ohio University, Athens, OH
Tania B. Basta, PhD, MPH, CHES , Department of Social and Public Health, Ohio University, Athens, OH
Kathleen J. Trace, MHA, BSN, RN , Community Health Programs, Ohio University, Athens, OH
Background: Young children are a priority group for vaccination against the seasonal flu according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The goal of this pilot study was to understand how rural Appalachian parents’ attitudes and beliefs predicted their intention to vaccinate their children against the seasonal flu compared to vaccinating themselves.

Method:  Parents were recruited in the waiting room of an immunization clinic, and completed self-report questionnaires assessing demographic information, attitudes and beliefs toward the seasonal flu and the seasonal flu vaccine, previous seasonal flu vaccination behavior and vaccination intention.

Results:  A forward-entry linear regression analysis identified attitudes (t(43) = 5.76, p < 0.001) and previous flu vaccination (t(43) = -2.61, p = 0.012) as significant predictors of parents’ intention to vaccinate themselves against the flu (F(2, 43) = 50.31, p < 0.001, r2 = 70.1%).  A second forward-entry linear regression analysis identified past vaccination of the child against the flu (t(40) = -5.38, p < 0.001), attitudes (t(40) = 3.44, p = 0.001), and community perceptions (t(40) = 2.51, p = 0.016) as significant predictors of parents’ intention to vaccinate their children against the flu (F(3, 40) = 25.34, p < 0.001, r2 = 65.5%).

Conclusion:  In this pilot study, different predictors emerged as important when trying to understand parents’ intention to vaccinate their children versus themselves against the flu.  This suggests public health educational interventions to increase flu vaccinations should be tailored depending on if the focus is on the children or the parents.

Learning Areas:

Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
List three predictors of parents’ intention to vaccinate their children against the seasonal flu. Discuss the differences in predicting parents’ intention to vaccinate their children against the seasonal flu compared to vaccinating themselves.

Keyword(s): Immunizations, Child Health Promotion

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been a co-investigator on multiple studies using theory-driven research to understand blood donation intention and vaccination intention. I collaborated with my co-authors to develop the submitted study upon which the abstract is based, obtained external funding for the study, collected the data, conducted the analyses and prepared the abstract and presentation.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 2043.0: Promoting Health and Preventing Disease through Screening and Vaccination