Do parents understand immunizations? A national telephone survey
Do parents understand immunizations? A national telephone survey
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DOI：
10.1542/peds.106.5.1097
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发表时间：
2000-11-01
期刊：
影响因子：
8
通讯作者：
Marcuse, EK
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gellin, BG;Maibach, EW;Marcuse, EK
背景。免疫接种现在可能被低估，因为疫苗在很大程度上消除了儿童时期严重传染病的威胁。随着疫苗可预防疾病发病率的下降，人们对疫苗安全性的关注有所增加。公众对疫苗安全信心的严重削弱可能导致免疫率下降和疫苗可预防疾病的死灰复燃。目的与方法。为了评估父母对疫苗可预防疾病、疫苗、免疫实践和政策的了解，我们于1999年4月和5月在美国进行了一次电话调查，其中有全国代表性的样本（n = 1600），其中有6岁以下或等于6岁的孩子的父母和准父母。87%的答复者认为，免疫接种是父母为保持子女健康可采取的一项极其重要的行动。尽管应答者对免疫安全的总体评价很高，但仍有相当一部分人存在严重的误解。例如，25%的人认为，过多的免疫接种可能会削弱他们孩子的免疫系统，23%的人认为，儿童接种的免疫接种量超过了对他们的好处。儿童保健提供者被认为是免疫接种信息的最重要来源。尽管大多数家长了解免疫接种的好处并支持接种，但许多家长存在严重的误解，可能会削弱他们对疫苗的信心。需要开展系统的教育工作，消除常见的误解，以确保知情的免疫决策。医生、护士和其他初级保健提供者有一个独特的机会来教育父母，因为父母将他们视为有关免疫接种的最重要信息来源。
Background. Immunization may now be undervalued because vaccines have largely eliminated the threat of serious infectious diseases in childhood. As the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases has declined, concern about vaccine safety has increased. Significant erosion of public confidence in vaccine safety could lead to reduced immunization rates and a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases.Objective and Methods. To assess parents' understanding of vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccines, immunization practices, and policies, we conducted a telephone survey in the United States with a nationally representative sample (n = 1600) of parents with children less than or equal to6 years of age, and expectant parents in April and May 1999.Results. Eighty-seven percent of respondents deemed immunization an extremely important action that parents can take to keep their children well. Although respondents' overall rating of immunization safety was high, a substantial minority held important misconceptions. For example, 25% believed that their child's immune system could become weakened as a result of too many immunizations, and 23% believed that children get more immunizations than are good for them. Children's health care providers were cited as the most important source of information on immunizations.Conclusions. Although the majority of parents understand the benefits of immunization and support its use, many parents have important misconceptions that could erode their confidence in vaccines. A systematic educational effort addressing common misconceptions is needed to ensure informed immunization decision-making. physicians, nurses, and other providers of primary care have a unique opportunity to educate parents because parents see them as the most important source of information about immunizations.