Determination of immunization status and attitudes of patient relatives admitted to a medical faculty hospital

Background/aims: Immunization is one of the most important public health interventions yet interest in adulthood vaccination is not adequate. This research was conducted on individuals who are over the age of 18 with the purpose to determine individuals immunization status, attitudes against vaccines and the obstacles encountered in adult vaccination and to raise awareness on this issue. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional research and it was conducted with the mixed research method, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The research was conducted between 10 December 2019 to 17 March 2020 at Istanbul University Istanbul Medical Faculty General Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, Female Diseases and Obstetrics, General Surgery and General Pediatrics Polyclinics with 327 patient relatives over the age of 18. In the quantitative part of the research a questionnaire form was applied to participants using face-to-face interview technique. In the qualitative research, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 participant. Results: The mean age of the participants is 42.1 ± 14.0. %61,2 of the participants in the study are women and %38,8 are men. 25.1% of the participants considered it necessary to vaccinate healthy adults. %70,3 had at least one vaccine after the age of 18. The most frequent vaccinations were tetanus (%60,9) influenza (%17,4) and meningococcus (%15,3). The most common reasons for non-vaccinated participants after the age of 18 were reported as 'not being advised by healthcare professionals' (%54,6) 'not seeing themselves in the risk group' (%38,1) and 'not being informed' (%32,0). %63,6 of the participants stated that they obtained their current information from healthcare professionals. Conclusion: It was found that the participants did not have adequate information about adult immunization and frequency of vaccination in adulthood is insufficient. In adulthood vaccination it is known that besides patient related factors, organizational, healthcare professionals related factors, health system and sociocultural factors are also important. Therefore interventions at multiple levels are needed to increase adult immunization to higher levels. It is important to constantly inform the society and to recommend vaccines in all areas of health service provision.