Knowledge and behaviors of nurses working at Inonu University Turgut Ozal Medical Center on childhood vaccine refusal

Figures & data

Table 1. Distribution of sociodemographic characteristics of the nurses participating in the study

Sociodemographic characteristic	n	%
Age group
20–29	101	38.1
30–39	115	43.4
≥40	49	18.5
Gender
Male	81	30.6
Female	184	69.4
Branch of work
Pediatrics	38	14.3
Non-Pediatric internal	132	49.8
Surgery	95	35.8
Education status
High school graduate	16	6
University/college graduate	249	94
Average monthly income of the family
≤4500 Turkish Lira (TL)	44	22.6
4501–6500 TL	49	30.3
6501–8500 TL	54	27.7
≥8501 TL	38	19.5
Marital status
Married	159	60
Single	102	38.5
Other	4	1.5
Children
Yes	134	50.6
No	131	49.4

Table 2. Distribution of the answers given to the questions for knowledge and behavior of nurses participating in the study of childhood vaccines

	n	%
Knowledge and behavior There are studies reporting side effects of vaccines.	122	46.2
Chemical substances in vaccines cause autism and similar diseases.	57	21.5
I do not trust companies that produce vaccines.	56	21.2
Better immunity is acquired by having a disease instead of vaccination.	52	19.8
Complementary and alternative medicine is more effective and has less side effects.	51	19.3
Vaccines damage children’s immune system.	21	7.9
There are no studies proving the reliability of vaccines.	20	7.5
Vaccines have no use.	5	1.9

Table 3. Comparison of the hesitancy status of nurses in the study group of childhood vaccinations according to sociodemographic and various other variables

	Vaccine hesitant		Vaccine acceptance
Sociodemographic and Various Other Variables	n	%	n	%	p
Sex					0.341
Male	29	35.8	52	64.2
Female	55	29.9	129	70.1
Age Group
20–29 ^a	39	38.6	62	61.4	0.01
30–39	38	33.0	77	67.0
≥40	7	14.3	42	85.7
Education					0.251
High school graduate	3	18.8	13	81.3
University/college graduate	81	32.5	168	67.5
Monthly Income
≤4500 Turkish Lira (TL)	14	31.8	30	68.2	0.374 0.013
4501–6500 TL	22	37.3	37	62.7
6501–8500 TL	12	22.2	42	77.8
≥8500 TL Marital status Married Single ^b Other	11 40 43 1	28.9 25.2 42.2 25.0	47 119 59 3	71.1 74.8 57.8 75.0
Children					0.006
No	52	39.7	79	60.3
Yes	32	23.9	102	76.1
Wanting to wait and see someone else get it when a new vaccine becomes available					0.024
Yes	74	34.4	141	65.6
No	8	17.4	38	82.6

a; Differs from 30–39 y old and ≥40 y old.

b; Married and differs from Other.

Table 4. Comparison of nurses’ knowledge and behaviors about childhood vaccinations and their hesitancy status

	Vaccine hesitant		Vaccine acceptance
	n	%		n	%	p
Chemicals in vaccines cause autism.
Agree	27	47.4		30	52.6	0.01
Disagree ^a	22	19.8		89	80.2
Undecided	35	36.1		62	63.9
I do not trust companies that produce vaccines.
Agree ^a	32	57.1		24	42.9	0.001
Disagree	22	22.9		74	77.1
Undecided	29	25.9		83	74.1
Better immunity is acquired by having a disease instead of vaccination.
Agree ^b	29	55.8		23	44.1	0.001
Disagree ^c	31	20.4		121	79.6
Undecided ^d	23	39.0		36	61.0
Children’s immune systems are not yet fully developed and vaccinations damage the immune system.
Agree ^b	18	85.7		3	14.3	0.001
Disagree ^c	42	22.0		149	78.0
Undecided ^d	24	45.3		29	54.7
There are no studies proving the reliability of vaccines.
Agree	13	65.0		7	35.0	0.004
Disagree	47	29.0		115	71.0
Undecided	24	28.9		59	71.1
Vaccines are not useful.
Agree	4	80.0		one	20.0	0.001
Disagree	61	26.2		172	73.8
Undecided	19	70.4		8	29.6

a; differs from the others.

b, c, d; differ from each others.