Determinants of Parents’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice toward Childhood Vaccination: A National Study

Abstract

Background: Childhood vaccination is one of the World Health Organization's strategies to reduce vaccine-preventable diseases and children's mortality and morbidity rates. Adequate and accurate knowledge, as well as positive attitudes regarding vaccination, may increase parents’ compliance with their children’s vaccines. Objective: This study aimed to identify the determinants of parents’ knowledge, attitude, and practice toward childhood vaccination in Jordan. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. The stratification method of sampling technique was used to split Jordan into three regions. The sample included 1477 participants. A total number of eleven Maternal and Child Health Care centers were selected as the study’s site. Results: Results showed that parents have sufficient knowledge regarding the importance of vaccines in maintaining a child’s health, with a mean percentage of correctly answered questions of 78.7%. However, they have inadequate knowledge regarding the adverse reactions (57.5%) and the contraindications of vaccines (61.8%). Parents had positive attitudes regarding the National Immunization Program where 97% agreed with it. However, 83% of parents had negative attitudes toward vaccine safety. Parents’ work, residency, income, and age are significant determinants of parents’ attitudes, knowledge, and practice regarding children's vaccines. Conclusion: The study may motivate nurses to implement more educational interventions regarding children’s vaccination to upgrade parents' knowledge with particular emphasis on parents with a low level of education and the residents of rural areas.