PARENTS RESPONSES TO VACCINE INFORMATION PAMPHLETS

Objective. To assess parents' knowledge and opinions about immunizatio ns and immunization practices before and after introduction of vaccine information pamphlets. Research design. Telephone questionnaire admin istered to parents whose children received immunizations in the preced ing week. Setting. Six private pediatric practices in Nashville area a nd resident continuity clinic at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Participants. Parents whose children were scheduled to receive immuni zations were asked to participate. Interviews were completed with 177 parents whose children received immunizations before and 156 parents a fter pamphlets were introduced. These two groups of parents had simila r demographic characteristics. Results. Parents who received vaccine i nformation pamphlets learned more about vaccines (2.38 facts/parent af ter vs 1.18/parent before vaccine information pamphlets, z = -6.28, P < .0001) and were more eager to obtain immunizations for their childre n (76% vs 38%, chi(2) = 47,24, P < .001). Receipt of pamphlets did not make parents significantly more likely to report side effects from va ccines (63% after vs 55% before, NS) but tended to make them less like ly to turn to non health care providers for information (58% after vs 69% before, chi(2) = 3.73, P = .06). Parents who received pamphlets, h owever, said more often that they received too much information (20% v s 4%, chi(2) = 14.9, P< .001). Conclusions. Vaccine information pamphl ets enhanced parents' knowledge and acceptance of immunizations. There is room for further improvement.