Attitudes of Mothers of Preschool Children towards Vaccination

Abstract

Objective. The aim of this paper is to explore mothers’ attitudes towards vaccination.

Methods. The study involved 200 mothers with at least one child up to the age of 7 years, who were admitted to the Maternity Ward or were seen for regular check-ups at the Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics at Mostar University Clinical Hospital from April 12, 2016 to July 27, 2016. For examining attitudes towards vaccination, the Dan Kahan questionnaire was culturally adapted.

Results. The average attitude score was 3.24 (SD=0.49), which indicates a mostly neutral attitude, with a tendency towards a more positive attitude. We obtained a high percentage of the answer: “neither agree nor disagree” for almost all questions, which may either be a “hidden do not know”, or it can mean a neutral opinion. The highest percentage of the answer “neither agree nor disagree” was for the connection between vaccination and autism. The results of the study did not find any association between the mothers’ age, the number of children, their employment status or education level with the positivity of attitudes toward vaccination.

Conclusion. Despite the fact that a large number of mothers surveyed have generally positive attitudes towards vaccination, since a large number responded with “neither agree nor disagree”, organized intervention is needed between health professionals, parents, the children themselves, public health officials, governments, the technology sector, and civil society in order to encourage the development of positive attitudes towards vaccination.