Mothers' understanding of childhood immunization at Johan Heynes community health centre Vanderbijlpark, Sedibeng

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The Under-5 Clinic in Johan Heynes Community Health Centre is always packed and has high immunization rates (104%). Despite this, during clinical consultation, the family physician researcher suspected that mothers were poorly informed about childhood immunization, which immunization the child had received and symptoms of common side effects. OBJECTIVES: This study assessed mothers understanding of indications, benefits, adverse effects of childhood immunization, how to catch-up on missed vaccinations, and how they obtained information about childhood immunization. METHODS: A cross sectional descriptive study was undertaken of all mothers attending immunization services at the clinic. Systematic sampling of 302 mothers using face to face interviews was done. The instrument questions were obtained from 2 similar validated studies, adapted to suit the setting, and piloted. Data was collected from 15th November to 15th December 2012. Data was analyzed using Epi-info. RESULTS: Ninety seven percent of mothers brought their children for immunization because they feared their children could develop illnesses. Seven percent of mothers knew what vaccines their children would receive on the day of immunization and what diseases these vaccines prevent. Nearly all mothers were given information on when to immunize their children. Fourteen percent where given information on why they need to immunize their children. CONCLUSION: Most mothers knew that immunization prevented certain illnesses, but did not know which illnesses were being immunized against. Further, most mothers didn’t know about the common side effects of childhood immunization. However, most mothers were well informed about the timing of immunization.