Authors (including presenting author) :
Leung KY, Chau WT, Cheuk HY, Mak CK, Tang HY, Tsang M, Lai A
Affiliation :
Central Nursing Division, Kwai Chung Hospital
Introduction :
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2019), influenza vaccination is considered as the first and best way to protect against influenza. Studies suggested that the vaccination of nurses contributes to substantial health-related benefits since nurses are required to provide direct care to patients, especially junior nurses (Zhang, While, & Norman, 2011). The Health Belief Model (HBM) explained that a person’s preventive health behaviour could be predicted by his/her belief in a perceived threat of an illness and the effectiveness of the suggested health behaviour (LaMorte, 2019). Therefore, we would like to conduct a study to explore the factors contributing to junior nurses’ decision to receive influenza vaccination with reference to the HBM.
Objectives :
1. To review the seasonal vaccination rate among junior psychiatric nurses
2. To explore the factors for receiving or refusing influenza vaccination among junior psychiatric nurses
Methodology :
The study was conducted to all junior psychiatric nurses who joined Hospital Authority (HA) for less than 2 years. They were invited to complete an online self-rating questionnaire which comprised two sections including demographic characteristics and determining factors which based on the HBM for receiving vaccination.
Result & Outcome :
In December 2019, 62 out of 76 junior psychiatric nurses completed the questionnaire; the respond rate is 81.5%. Majority of them (58.1%) were female and most of the participants (74.2%) were aged below 25. The vaccination rate of them was 72.6% in 2019. Among those who have received vaccination reported that they mainly wanted to protect themselves, their family and friends (59.6%) and bear the professional responsibilities to protect patients (46.8%). For those who did not receive vaccination in 2019, most participants (47.4%) raised concerns on past unpleasant experience of the side effects of vaccine. Also, some of them (36.8%) were doubtful about the effectiveness of vaccines.
