Exploring Vaccine Hesitancy Levels Among Turkish Parents in 2024 After Pandemic; Key Influencing Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the level of vaccine hesitancy and related factors regarding childhood vaccines among parents with children under 5 years of age receiving services from a health center in Turkey.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with parents with children under 5 years of age who applied to a primary care family health center in Diyarbakır province between 1 November and 1 December 2023. The number of children under 5 years of age registered at the family health center was approximately 800, and the minimum sample size was calculated as 219 using the Open Epi program with a 13% vaccine hesitancy frequency, 99% confidence interval, and 80% power. A total of 214 parents who had no communication problems and voluntarily agreed to participate were included in the study. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a data form including demographic information of parents and their children, vaccination knowledge, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vaccination attitudes, and the Parents’ Attitudes Toward Childhood Vaccines Scale (PACV) Scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS (Version 24.0).

Findings: The mean age of the participants was 32.2 ± 5.9 years, 73.4% were mothers, 70.1% and 62.6% of their spouses had high school education or less, and 60.7% were not employed. A total of 65.9% of the parents were at the middle-income level and 76.6% stated that they had sufficient knowledge about child vaccines. They mostly received vaccine information from family health center nurses or physicians (84.1%). The vaccine hesitation rate was 16.8% and the PACV Scale’s mean score was 34.38 ± 15.60. No significant difference was found between the hesitation levels of the parents. While the rate of hesitation was 36.1% in parents with sufficient knowledge about vaccination, this rate was 63.9% in those with insufficient knowledge, and this difference was found to be statistically significant (p = 0.01). In addition, vaccine hesitancy was found to be higher in parents who did not have a negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the vaccination decision. Parents with university and higher education level had higher and statistically significant safety-effectiveness scale subdimension scores (p < 0.001).

Conclusions: In this study, vaccine hesitation was found in 16.8% of the parents and the level of hesitation was found to be associated with knowledge and education levels. The hesitation rate was found to be lower in parents who had sufficient knowledge about childhood vaccines. The higher hesitation levels of parents who reported that the pandemic did not negatively affect their vaccination decisions suggest the effect of social and psychological factors. The findings emphasize the importance of education and awareness-raising activities for parents to reduce vaccine hesitancy.