Assessment of knowledge, attitude and perception among mothers towards immunization in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Abstract

Background: The knowledge, attitude and perception (KAP) of parents is an important factor for better immunization coverage. Previous studies showed misconceptions on parent’s knowledge towards childhood immunization. This study aimed at promoting the childhood immunization by providing information and knowledge to mothers regarding immunization.Methods: A prospective interventional study was conducted on 103 mothers for a period of six months in a tertiary care teaching hospital, Karnataka. The study was divided into Pre-intervention and post-intervention phases and was performed using a KAP questionnaire.Results: 103 mothers were enrolled in the study, of which 77 (74.75%) mothers were uneducated which was the main reason for lack of knowledge on immunization. Most of the mothers in pre-intervention phase got score in the range of 2-4 and in post-intervention phase they got score in the range of 10-12. A significant difference was observed in the Pre and Post-intervention scores which indicated that level of knowledge among mothers was improved after counseling session. Chi-square test was used to analyse the pre and post- intervention scores and was found to be significant (p<0.01). Out of 103 mothers who had attended counseling session on immunization 80 (77.66%) children were immunized, 23 (22.66%) were partially immunized and no one was unimmunized.Conclusions:It was therefore suggested that proper health education and health promotion interventions be taken as measures to improve knowledge, attitude and perception of mothers towards immunization as a disease prevention tool.