Effectiveness of a training intervention on immunization to increase knowledge of primary healthcare workers and vaccination coverage rates

Objective: Immunizations are important to reduce vaccine-preventable diseases in children, and consistent control of vaccine-preventable diseases depends on fairly high immunization coverage. In order to provide effective immunization services, primary healthcare workers should have up-to-date information about immunization. This study examined the effectiveness of an intervention to increase knowledge of primary healthcare workers and vaccination coverage. Study design: This study had a pre-test, post-test, single group, experimental design. Two hundred and twenty-nine healthcare workers from primary health centres participated in a training intervention on immunization. The intervention included vaccines, national vaccination schedule, cold chain and management, planning and regulation of immunization, tracking the trends and increase in vaccination coverage, and immunization recording. Eighteen intensive immunization workshops were held between January and March 2004, tasting for about 54 week days in total. Data regarding participants' knowledge were collected via a questionnaire before (pre-test) and after the intervention (post-test). Data regarding vaccination coverage for the 3-month period before (April-June 2003) and after (April-June 2004) the intervention were collected by immunization forms completed at each health centre. Results: The intervention increased primary healthcare workers' knowledge about immunization significantly (P < 0.01). Multiple regression analysis indicates that place (P < 0.01) and duration of training (P < 0.05), performance of trainers (P < 0.05) and gender (P < 0.01) were independent predictor variables for post-workshop score; and gender (P < 0.01), profession (P < 0.05), content of training (P < 0.05) and performance of trainers (P < 0.01) were independent predictor variables for the difference score (i.e. the difference between the pre- and post-workshop scores). After the intervention, a significant increase in vaccination coverage was determined for all vaccines in the national vaccination schedule (P < 0.001). Conclusions: This study found that immunization training increased the knowledge of primary healthcare workers and vaccination coverage in the study area. (C) 2007 The Royal Institute of Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.