Vaccinations are one of the greatest achievements of Public Health. Nevertheless, they are not exempt from criticism and speculation that increase, especially in developed countries, what is known as "vaccine hesitancy". Moreover, in recent years childhood vaccination coverages in Italy decreased well below the recommended thresholds mainly due to the increase of parents who decide to delay or even to decline vaccinations. To our knowledge, few studies have investigated factors that could influence decision-making of women in relation to their children's vaccination and have planned intervention strategies to fight this phenomenon.
This project aims to fulfill this gap and to search for new practices and interventions to modify the downward trend on immunization coverage. Pregnant women will be our target population since pregnancy is universally recognized as a strategic teachable moment to influence knowledge regarding childhood vaccinations, because attitudes and beliefs about this topic are often not yet fully structured and the level of information of parents becomes a key point to decide with consciousness. Antenatal classes appear to be the ideal setting to inform pregnant women also about vaccinations. Thus, to achieve this goal, a specific training for midwives will be organized to allow them to introduce accurate information on vaccinations in antenatal classes.
The project will consist of the following four steps: i) identification of level and determinants of knowledge and attitudes about vaccinations of a population of pregnant women; ii) identification of level and determinants of knowledge and attitudes about vaccinations of midwives; iii) identification and tailoring of strategies; iv) evaluation and monitoring of the impact of the intervention.
The final aim of this project is to empower populations and to improve health literacy of parents and finally to increase vaccination coverages through a spontaneous and conscious acceptance of vaccinations.
