Factors Affecting Parents’ Intention to Vaccinate Children against Influenza

Abstract

Globally, this influenza virus creates a year-round burden of disease, and vaccination is the most effective strategy in preventing influenza. A cross sectional study was carried out to examine parental intention to vaccinate their children against influenza. This study also aims to identify factors that influence the parental intention. A total of 167 parents were selected by stratified random sampling. An online self-reported questionnaire was distributed to the selected participants. The predictors were classified into three parts; demographic characteristics, Health Belief Model (perceived barriers, perceived benefits, perceived susceptibilities and perceived severity), knowledge of influenza. The dependent variable is parents’ intention to vaccinate their children against influenza where it is categorized into dichotomous categories (0 and 1); 0 denoting that the parents will probably vaccinate their children (low likelihood) and 1 denoting that the parents will definitely vaccinate their children (high likelihood). Binary logistic
regression was employed to obtain a predictive model and to identify the significant factors that affect parent’s intention. The results found that 32.3% have a low likelihood to their children and 67.7% of the parents have a high likelihood. The binary logistic regression results suggested that gender, perceived benefits (“Influenza vaccines are safe for children.”), perceived susceptibility
(“My children have a high risk of influenza.” and “My children get sick more easily than other children do.”), perceived severity (“Influenza infection may cause serious health problems.”) and knowledge about influenza were significantly associated to parents’ intention to vaccinate their children.