The Attitudes of Undergraduate Nursing Students to Childhood Vaccines

Abstract

This study aims to determine the attitudes of undergraduate nursing students studying at a public university toward childhood vaccines and investigate whether students' attitudes change according to sociodemographic characteristics, vaccination history, and perceived level of knowledge. Material and Method:This descriptive study was conducted with 83 students studying in the Department of Nursing at a public university in Konya between May 2020 and September 2021. The data were collected using the Information Form and the Public Attitude toward Vaccination-Health Belief Model Scale. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and the Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis non-parametric tests.Results: When the childhood vaccination attitude scores of the students were examined according to their sociodemographic characteristics, it was seen that there was a statistically significant difference between gender and the perceived barriers attitude score; between the economic status of the family and the perceived severity and perceived barriers attitude scores; the location of the high school graduated and the perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, perceived benefit and health motivation attitude scores. When the distribution of students' childhood vaccination attitude scores across their childhood vaccination history and perceived level of knowledge about vaccines was examined, it was observed that there was a statistically significant difference between having sufficient knowledge about childhood vaccines and the perceived barriers attitude score. Conclusion:Our study revealed that gender, economic status, the location of the high school graduates, and the perceived level of knowledge about childhood vaccines affect vaccination attitudes.

Childhood Vaccine Attitude and Refusal among Turkish Parents

“…In studies conducted in Turkey and worldwide, different determinations were made about vaccination attitudes according to gender. A study conducted in 2022 with nursing students in Turkey showed that males had a more negative vaccine attitude [ 25 ]. In a study conducted in 2022 in Turkey, no difference was observed in vaccination attitudes according to gender [ 24 ].…”