The vaccination status and knowledge level of vaccines among adults over the age of sixty- five
Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate vaccination status and knowledge level of vaccination among the elderly.
Methods: A questionnaire (21 questions) was prepared by the study team and applied to elderly patients attending outpatient clinics of two hospitals (one on European, the other on the Asian side) of Istanbul during March, 2011. In total 347 elderly people gave consent to participate. Likert scale of 10 points was used to determine self rated knowledge level of each vaccine. For statistical analysis, firstly descriptive statistics were calculated, and then chi-square test and t test or equivalent was used for comparative analysis.
Results: The percentage of male participants was 47% (163 person). The percentage of participants having Influenza vaccination regularly was 26.8% (93 person). The same percentage for Pneumococcal vaccine 3.1%(11 person) and for tetanus vaccine 11% (38 person). According to self-rated 10 point likert scale 45.2% of the participants were rated their level of knowledge for influenza vaccine as 1 and 3.7% rated as 10. Among the participants approximately 65% rated their knowledge for pneumococcal and tetanus vaccine as 1. Participants having higher education level than primary care know more about the vaccines and also they got vaccine shots more.
Conclusion: Vaccination status and the knowledge level for vaccines were very low among the participants. Relatively influenza vaccine is known better and applied more. As the educational level increases, knowledge and application of vaccines also increases significantly.
Key words: vaccination, elderly, education
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