Knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of support services staff working in the hospital regarding adult vaccinations

The aim of this study was to evaluate the vaccination status of the health care workers (HCWs) in the support services of the hospital, their knowledge, attitudes and behaviours toward some vaccines. It is a single-centre, analytical cross-sectional study. A face-to-face questionnaire was applied to 857 HCWs (cleaning, security, PGERT (patient guide, escort, reception and transport) and cooking) in Ankara Bilkent City Hospital and the data of 772 participants who responded to all questions were analysed. The mean age was 35,1 ± 8,5 years and 39,4% were in the 35-44 age range. 55,3% had high school education, 52,1% were female, 50,3% were married, 55,4% had children. 20,1% had at least one chronic disease. 42% stated that they had information about vaccines. In the HYRRT group, the rate of obtaining information about vaccines from internet/social media (50,7%) was higher (p=0,005). It was observed that those who thought they had information about vaccination received more seasonal flu (33,0%) and hepatitis-B vaccines (46,9%, p<0,05). While cooking staffs were the most likely to receive at least 1 dose of seasonal flu and hepatitis-B vaccine (p<0,05), approximately two-third of the security staffs received at least 3 doses of COVID-19 vaccine (60,1%, p<0,001). It was found that PGERT staffs were more afraid of getting injections (%22,4, p<0,001), cooking staffs were more undecided about vaccination due to religious beliefs ((%16,8, p=0,001), and cleaning staff were more afraid of the side effects of vaccines (%57,9, p=0,001). As a result, there is a need to develop interventions to increase the vaccination rates of support services personnel, to monitor their immunisation status, and to provide training to overcome their lack of knowledge and concerns about vaccines. Keywords: health care worker, vaccination, attitude