U.S. pregnant women’s knowledge and attitudes about behavioral strategies and vaccines to prevent Zika acquisition

Abstract

Pregnant women were worried about Zika, yet had gaps in their factual knowledge. Most women reported they would get vaccinated if a vaccine was available. Pregnant women who reported themselves as vulnerable (being worried, having lived in or traveled to a Zika area) were more likely to view behavioral strategies as hard to do and to accept vaccination.

Influencing factors on preventive health behaviours for Zika virus in pregnant women and their partners

“…Therefore, it is necessary to increase awareness of the risk of diseases in order to promote preventive health behaviours for Zika virus in men. The results of this study were similar to findings on preventive health behaviours for Zika virus infection of earlier researches (Fraiz et al, 2018;Huang et al, 2017;Painter et al, 2017), and any differences were presumably due to different subject characteristics. The results of this study were similar to findings on preventive health behaviours for Zika virus infection of earlier researches (Fraiz et al, 2018;Huang et al, 2017;Painter et al, 2017), and any differences were presumably due to different subject characteristics.…”

“…However, according to a Chinese study, gender, age, educational level and occupation did not significantly influence health-related behaviours (Huang et al, 2017). Attitudes to Zika virus were identified as a significant factor of preventive health behaviours for Zika virus in the present study and previous studies (Fraiz et al, 2018;Painter et al, 2017), which suggests the importance of attitudes to improve prevention. Attitudes to Zika virus were identified as a significant factor of preventive health behaviours for Zika virus in the present study and previous studies (Fraiz et al, 2018;Painter et al, 2017), which suggests the importance of attitudes to improve prevention.…”

“…The selected variables included age, educational level, occupation (Huang et al, 2017), experience of influenza vaccination, checking the infection status of Zika virus on the destinations when planning a trip, intention to travel to Zika virus endemic countries (Fraiz et al, 2018) and pregnant status. Gender-related differences in Zika virus-related knowledge, attitudes to Zika virus, health motivation and preventive health behaviours for Zika virus were analysed using the independent t test.…”

“…Zika virus can have serious effects on the foetus when a pregnant woman is infected (Rasmussen et al, 2016;World Health Organization, 2016) and a special caution is critical during fertility and pregnancy. In a study conducted in the United States, factors affecting behavioural strategies among pregnant women were a history of sexually transmitted infections, having lived/travelled to a Zika virus endemic area and concern about Zika virus infection (Fraiz et al, 2018). In a study conducted in the United States, factors affecting behavioural strategies among pregnant women were a history of sexually transmitted infections, having lived/travelled to a Zika virus endemic area and concern about Zika virus infection (Fraiz et al, 2018).…”

“…Symptoms of Zika virus infection are not severe for adults, but infection in pregnant women can lead to serious complications, such as microcephaly and congenital birth disorders in infants and Guillain-Barré syndrome in mothers (Frieden, Schuchat, & Petersen, 2016;Rasmussen, Jamieson, Honein, & Petersen, 2016;World Health Organization, 2016). Therefore, prevention of Zika virus infection is becoming a major worldwide public health effort (World Health Organization, 2016 (Cheema et al, 2017;Fraiz et al, 2018) and vaccination intentions (Fraiz et al, 2018;Painter, Plaster, Tjersland, & Jacobsen, 2017) among fertile and pregnant women have been researched. However, male partners should be included in the highrisk group as Zika virus can be spread via sexual intercourse (Colt et al, 2017;Hastings & Fikrig, 2017;Paz-Bailey et al, 2017).…”