Phase 3 – Behavioral and Environmental Diagnosis of Vaccinating Children
Vaccination among children is one of the most controversial issues in health care. There are both behavioral and environmental reasons in relation to parents’ decision to accept or decline the vaccination for their children. Using the phase three of precede-proceed model, this portion will provide further ecological assessment that will analyze such determinants of the parents’ decisions as well as the present policy factors that affects the implementation of vaccination for children. The emergence of different viruses call for the implementation of policies that will promote the vaccination of children ages between 1 and 5 years old. However, there are various influential factors that affect the parents’ decisions when it comes to acceptability and disapproval of such vaccines.
When it comes to behavioral determinants that influence their decisions towards vaccination, there are some factors that must be considered. One is the lack of knowledge and awareness about the virus that could affect the children within the mentioned age bracket. Dube et al. (2012) said that lack of information about the virus itself must be addressed, as it serves as one of the barriers to accepting vaccine among many parents. In fact, many parents believe that vaccine can be helpful, but they cannot decide on their own unless being guided by healthcare professionals. Therefore, recommendations coming from the health care providers and professionals are significant, influential factors when it comes to vaccine acceptance.
The study also shows that parents who decided to have their children vaccinated are the ones who normally receives adequate information from their health care providers. Therefore, the acceptability of vaccines as well as the implementation of immunization depend on the parental knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes that can be influenced by health care professionals.
When it comes to the environmental determinants, it was reported that paternal decisions are influenced by different factors within the environment, where they live. For example, the lack of health care access affects the parents’ belief when it comes to vaccine or immunization against various diseases. Thus, the autonomy of the mother to make significant decision also influence her views about vaccination. Relatively, such factor may provide adverse effects on child’s welfare. Amugsi et al. (2015) stated that the existence of lower level of maternal power and autonomy to make decisions is related to an increase in child morbidity risks. Thus, lack of decision-making power reduces the potential utilization of child healthcare services.
It is important that policies pertaining to the promotion of maternal and child welfare also includes the promotion of more accessible health care, so as to increase parents’ health awareness and better decision-making. Currently, policies pertaining to immunization are influenced by different factors, such as the need for better healthcare and the increasing risks of various diseases that may occur within the early stages of human life. One of the current programs regarding children’s vaccination is the VFC or the Vaccines for Children Program (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2015). This program may have been influenced by the need to provide free immunizations, specifically for those who are uninsured individuals. This Federal program is one of the 95 percent publicly funded immunization that aims to encourage the acceptance of vaccines for children.
Relatively, the proposed intervention to increase the likelihood of the targeted outcome are in line with the government’s aim to increase the acceptability of vaccines for children. That fact that such immunization will be free for most individuals will increase the chance that more and more parents will make decision for vaccinating their children.
References
Amugsi, D. A., Aborigo, R. A., Oduro, A. R., Asoala, V., Awine, T., & Amenga-Etego, L. (2015). Socio-demographic and environmental determinants of infectious disease morbidity in children under 5 years in Ghana. Global Health Action, 8(0). doi:10.3402/gha.v8.29349
Dube, E., Bettinger, J. A., Halperin, B., Bradet, R., Lavoie, F., Sauvageau, C., Boulianne, N. (2012). Determinants of parents' decision to vaccinate their children against rotavirus: results of a longitudinal study. Health Education Research, 27(6), 1069-1080. doi:10.1093/her/cys088
National Conference of State Legislatures. (2015, January 12). Immunizations Policy Issues Overview. Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/immunizations-policy-issues-overview.aspx
