The relationship between healthcare workers's knowledge levels, attitudes and behaviors on seasonal influenza vaccine immunization and perception of health

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between healthcare workers' knowledge levels, attitudes and behaviors on seasonal ınfluenza vaccine ımmunization and perception of health. Method: The study was conducted as a cross-sectional, descriptive study in the Farabi Hospital of Karadeniz Technical University Faculty of Medicine between October 2020 and March 2021. A total of 391 doctors and nurses working at Farabi Hospital were included in the study. "The relationship between healthcare workers' knowledge levels, attitudes and behaviors on seasonal influenza vaccine immunization and perception of health questionnaire" were applied to volunteer participants face to face. Data analysis performed by using SPSS 22.0 statistical package program. Statistically, p <0.05 was considered significant. Results: The mean age of participants was 32,3±7,6 years. Participants %5,9 stated that they have regular seasonal influenza vaccine every year. The most common reason for non-vaccination was not having the influenza too often and not believing in the effectiveness of the vaccine. As the age of the participants increases, the probability of getting vaccinated regularly every year increases. Healthcare workers who vaccinated for influenza, recommend vaccination to their patients more effectivelly compared to those who not vaccinated for influenza. The average scores obtained from the perception of health scale did not differ according to the getting influenza vaccination status. Conclusion: In our study, healthcare workers were found to have low influenza vaccination. As the result of our study, it is concluded that educations and practices should be done intended to increase awareness of healthcare workers to achieve targeted influenza vaccination rates.