Parental risk perception and influenza vaccination of children in daycare centres

Abstract

Little information is available about perceptions of influenza vaccination of parents with healthy children in daycare. Therefore, we systematically explored the relationship between parental risk perception and influenza vaccination in children attending daycare. We distributed a self-administered paper survey to parents of children aged 6-59 months attending licensed daycare centres in Tarrant County, Texas. We used conditional logistic regression with penalized conditional likelihood to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% profile likelihood confidence limits (PL) for parental risk-perception factors and influenza vaccination. A high level of parental prevention behaviours (OR 9.1, 95% PL 3.2, 31) and physician recommendation (OR 8.2, 95% PL 2.7, 30) had the highest magnitudes of association with influenza vaccination of healthy children in daycare. Our results provide evidence about critical determinants of influenza vaccination of healthy children in daycare, which could help inform public health interventions aimed at increasing influenza vaccination coverage in this population.

Coverage and parental perceptions of influenza vaccination among parents of children aged 6 to 23 months in Hong Kong

“…Among parents who chose not to have their child vaccinated, the most common reasons mentioned were that parents believed it to be “unnecessary”, “the child is in good health condition” and “the baby is too young”. This is consistent with other study findings that there is a lack of parental awareness about the importance of IV among healthy young children, children with chronic health conditions, and children in close contact with high-risk individuals [ 42 , 53 - 55 ]. In addition, a significant proportion of the parents gave “don’t know” answers to IV related knowledge.…”

“…This is consistent with other study findings that there is a lack of parental awareness about the importance of IV among healthy young children, children with chronic health conditions, and children in close contact with high-risk individuals [42,53-55]. In addition, a significant proportion of the parents gave “don’t know” answers to IV related knowledge.…”

“…Corroborating with the results of other studies, a doctor’s recommendation, which can be seen as a cue to action, was an important factor associated with IV status and inclinations [26,27,41,42,59,60]. However, only a minority of parents in this study had ever received recommendations from a health care professional.…”

“…A number of western studies examined factors associated with IV among elderly [ 34 - 37 ] and other populations, such as adults with asthma [ 38 ] or healthcare workers [ 39 ], but relatively few of these studies targeted young children [ 40 - 42 ]. Similarly in Hong Kong, most of the studies on IV focused on the elderly population [ 43 - 46 ].…”

Barriers of Influenza Vaccination Intention and Behavior – A Systematic Review of Influenza Vaccine Hesitancy, 2005 – 2016

“…Individuals who did not receive a direct recommendation from medical personnel were frequently reported to be less likely to vaccinate (HCP 5/117 [ 75 , 161 , 215 , 422 , 425 ]; Pregnant 15/35 [ 57 , 76 , 92 , 93 , 115 , 116 , 167 , 177 , 232 – 235 , 426 – 428 ]; Chronic 7/45 [ 58 , 248 , 291 , 292 , 429 – 431 ]; Children 6/18 [ 98 , 179 , 180 , 299 , 389 , 432 ]; Elderly 8/62 [ 96 , 100 , 136 , 222 , 300 , 322 , 407 , 433 ]; Public 11/191 [ 66 , 109 , 125 , 170 , 257 , 305 , 366 , 434 – 437 ]). The same was true for individuals who did not receive a recommendation from relatives (Elderly 3/62 [ 162 – 164 ]; Public 3/191 [ 103 , 125 , …”