The relationship of parents' health literacy levels with attitudes and behaviors related to childhood vaccines

This research was conducted as a descriptive study to determine the relationship between parents health literacy levels and their attitudes and behaviors towards childhood vaccines. The study was carried out with 279 parents in the 0-12 month age group in the central district of Kırıkkale province. Lot quality technique was used to determine the parents in the sample. Written permission was obtained from Kırıkkale Provincial Health Directorate and Kırıkkale University Ethics Committee. The data of the study were collected by face-to-face interview technique using descriptive questionnaire and European Health Literacy Scale. In the analysis of data, number, percentage, minimum and maximum values, mean, standard deviation and chi-square were used. The mean age of the parents is 30,18 ± 6,16, the average number of children is 1,74 ± 0,83 and the mean age of the children is 7,79 ± 3,74 months. While 41,2% (n = 115) of the mothers who participated in the study, 43% (n = 120) of the fathers were university graduates, it was determined that about 1/3 of the fathers who did not work more than half of the mothers were civil servants. The mean health literacy score of the parents was 30,57 ± 8,30 according to the European health literacy scale. It was determined that 62,8% of the parents had inadequate and problematic-limited level of general health literacy. The difference between parental parenting status and health literacy level was statistically significant (p<0,05). Fathers have a high level of problematic-limited health literacy. The difference between the place where the parents live and the level of health literacy is statistically significant (p<0,05). Inadequate health literacy rate was higher in the village / town. 98,6% of the parents had their children vaccinated and 96,8% had a vaccination card. There was no statistically significant difference between the opinions of parents about the need to vaccinate and their thoughts on compulsory vaccination programs and the levels of health literacy (p>0.05).It was determined that the level of health literacy of the parents did not correlate with the vaccination status of their children. Training programs can be organized to increase the level of health literacy of village / town dwellers and fathers. It can be suggested that nurses who take part in the family health center about vaccines should raise awareness of their parents.