Trust in vaccination and its influencing factors among parents of 0 – 3 years old children

  Objective  To analyze the status quo and influencing factors of trust in vaccination among parents of small children.

  Methods   Using stratified multistage random sampling, we recruited 3 292 children aged 0 – 3 years at 34 immunization clinics in 12 districts/counties of 6 provinces across China and conducted a questionnaire survey on vaccination knowledge and information demand, vaccination service received, and satisfaction to vaccination service among the parents of the children from December 2019 to January 2020.

  Results   For the 3 178 parents with valid responses, the mean score for overall trust in vaccination was 3.91 ± 0.72 on a five-point scale, indicating a general trust of 78.20%. Vaccine safety was the key factor affecting the trust in vaccination based on the parents′ responses. The results of binary logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the parents with following characteristics were more likely to have the trust in vaccination of their children: ever receiving health education at immunization clinics (odds ratio OR = 1.528, 95% confidence interval 95% CI: 1.274 – 1.833), ever participating in education programs for parents organized by immunization clinics (OR = 1.616, 95% CI: 1.372 – 1.903), with a higher satisfaction to vaccination service (OR = 4.675, 95% CI: 3.084 – 7.087), perceiving details of vaccination procedures and services (OR = 1.138, 95% CI: 1.094 – 1.183).

  Conclusion   The trust in vaccination could be further promoted among the parents of 0 – 3 years old children by improving health education programs for the parents and vaccination service for the children.