Evaluation of knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of the parents about childhood vaccines

Aim: In this study, it was aimed to determine the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of parents regarding childhood vaccinations. Methods: It is a cross-sectional descriptive type of research. The universe of the research is made up of parents with children aged 0-6 years who applied to Çatalzeytin Family Health Center and Ihsangazi Family Health Center in Kastamonu province for any reason between November 2020 and February 2021. A total of 110 parents were during these dates. Research data were collected through a face-to-face interview method using a questionnaire that determined the sociodemographic characteristics of parents, their knowledge, attitudes and behaviors about vaccines, and the "Attitudes Towards Vaccine Scale". The datas were evaluated using the SPSS 25.0 package program. In the evaluation of the data, besides descriptive statistics, t-test and one-way analysis of variance were used for comparison between groups. Findings: It was determined that 85.5% of the parents thought that vaccinations were necessary, 90.9% of them had their children vaccinated regularly and 29.1% of them had at least one special vaccination. The rate of parents who do not know about any vaccine in the routine vaccination schedule is 10.9%, 74.5% of parents think that vaccines have a side effect, and 8.5% consider autism and 6.1% infertility as vaccine side effects. The parents Attitudes Towards Vaccination Scale mean score is 50.43±9.00 and their attitudes towards vaccinations are moderate. It was determined that the parents living in the city center, expressing that their income is more than their expenses, thinking that vaccines are necessary and receiving information about vaccines from a health professional, had higher scores on the Attitudes towards Vaccination Scale (p≤0.05). Conclusion: The study found that a significant proportion of parents regularly vaccinate their children, but it was also found that there are parents who think that the vaccine is not necessary, have incorrect information about the side effects of vaccines and do not know about routinely administered vaccines. In order to change parents attitudes towards vaccines in a positive way, it can be recommended to determine the information needs about vaccines and to provide accurate and reliable information about vaccines and vaccination programs. KeyWords: Attitude Towards Vaccination, Parents, Vaccination, Vaccine.