SOCIOECONOMIC AND CULTURAL FACTORS INFLUENCING CHILDHOOD VACCINATION UPTAKE AMONG PARENTS IN ALIPUR

Aslam Sadia; Zulfiqar Zahid; Muhammad Owaim Nadeem

Authors

Sadia Aslam MPhil Scholar Sociology, NCBA&E Lahore, Multan Sub-Campus, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.
Zahid Zulfiqar Lecturer, Department of Sociology, University of Okara, Okara, Punjab, Pakistan (Corresponding Author).
Muhammad Owaim Nadeem MPhil Scholar Sociology, NCBA&E Lahore, Multan Sub-Campus, Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.

Keywords:

Vaccination, Socioeconomic, Cultural Barriers, Childhood, Immunization

Abstract

Vaccination of children is an important public health intervention to prevent vaccine preventable diseases and to decrease child morbidity and mortality. In this study, socioeconomic and cultural barriers that affect parents' decision to vaccinate their children in Alipur, District Muzaffargarh, South Punjab, Pakistan have been discussed. 284 parents of children under five years of age were used with the quantitative cross sectional survey design. A detailed questionnaire was used to gather the data, which included the following sections: sociodemographic data, socioeconomic data, cultural data, knowledge and attitudes, and vaccination behaviors. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha, Pearson correlation, and Kruskal–Wallis test were used to the analyze the data. The results indicated that 97.9% of the respondents stated their children were vaccinated, 78.5% said fully vaccinated and 15.5% said they were partially vaccinated, and 6.0% did not know. 94.4% of children had a vaccination card. The internal consistency of the four study constructs as measured by Cronbach's alpha were high, ranging from .966 to .988. Practice/Attitude recorded the highest mean score (M = 3.34, SD = 1.33), followed by Social/Economic Factors (M = 3.15, SD = 1.41), Knowledge/Attitude (M = 3.12, SD = 1.31), and Cultural Factors (M = 3.00, SD = 1.41). All four constructs had strong positive correlations (r = .983–.993, p < .001). Also significant differences were observed among complete vaccine, incomplete vaccine and no vaccine groups for socioeconomic factors, cultural factors, knowledge/attitude factors and practice/attitude factors (all p < .001). The study indicates that the level of child vaccination levels in the study area is high, however incomplete vaccination is a concern. Better health education in the home, tackling socioeconomic and cultural challenges and enhancing community immunization assistance could help ensure that childhood immunisation schedules are completed more consistently.

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