A scoping review of studies on women's knowledge regarding Tdap vaccination during Pregnancy

Abstract

This review aimed to determine and identify the knowledge and attitude of the mothers or pregnant women toward the Tdap vaccine during pregnancy. Whooping cough, Diphtheria disease and tetanus are infectious and pathogenic bacterial diseases that mainly affect children too young to complete basic vaccinations, and deaths associated with infectious diseases are frequent among them. Therefore, it is advisable for pregnant women to take the triple bacterial vaccine (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis). This scoping review was conducted, and various electronic databases were searched, including Medline and PubMed. Moreover, Google Scholar, CDC, and immunization research group websites were searched to investigate the literature on the Tdap vaccine. As a result, 13 studies were included in this review. Based on the findings of this review, the level of knowledge of ladies and pregnant women about the importance of the vaccine depended upon several factors, including education level, occupation, age, sources of vaccine information, maternal desire, being born outside the country, lower household income, religious misconception, residing in a province or area where the pertussis vaccine was not free, having given birth to live children in the past, and receiving maternity care from a midwife. Therefore, it can be concluded that the increase in the level of knowledge about the importance of Tdap vaccine increased the percentage of women who supported and accepted the vaccine. Studies have also shown that some mothers refused vaccination due to reservations about vaccine safety and efficacy since they did not have sufficient knowledge or experience.