Knowledge, attitude and practice of fathers about childhood immunization: a tertiary care hospital based cross sectional study
Background: Immunization is globally recognized as one of the most powerful, safe, and cost-effective for the prevention/control of some childhood diseases. Father's involvement is essential for the successful immunization of the child, as man is the head of the family and he takes responsibility for all decision’s measures including health and financial issues. Fathers having good knowledge of RI are likely to encourage their children to assess immunization services. This study thus aimed at assessing the knowledge, attitude and practice of fathers, uptake of RI and its associated factors. To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of fathers about childhood immunization.Methods: After obtaining institutional ethical clearance we interviewed 110 fathers who have children within the age group 9 months to 2 years who attended the pediatric OP and their knowledge, attitude and practice about immunization was analyzed.Results: Out of 110 fathers interviewed majority come from joint family (91.8%) and had secondary education only (42.7%). Majority were skilled workers (65.5%). Only 0.9% had child death in their family and only 2.7% had a history of vaccine preventable disease in their family. Only 10.9% had good knowledge, 99.09% had good attitude and only 32.7% had good practice.Conclusions: It was found that majority of fathers had poor knowledge and practice about childhood immunization. More awareness programs have to be done in order to improve the routine immunization.