King Fahad Medical City Academy for Postgraduate Studies in Family Medicine, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Department of Primary Care Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, Jordan.
PLoS One. 2022 Apr 4;17(4):e0266440. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266440. eCollection 2022.
Influenza infection continues to be a hazard to the Saudi population, resulting in high death rates and illness prevalence; it also places a substantial financial burden on the government. The government takes several strategies and approaches through the Ministry of Health has shown great success in curbing the disease. Vaccination is considered the most appropriate control measure; unfortunately, most Saudi residents, particularly in the city of Riyadh, do not consider vaccination a safe health practice. As a result, many have not participated in the influenza vaccine immunisation programme. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAPs) of seasonal influenza and influenza vaccine immunisation among clients visiting primary healthcare centers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the study investigated the relationship between participants' demographics and their KAPs regarding influenza vaccination. A cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational study was conducted among 611 individuals who visited four of Riyadh's primary healthcare centers: Alsylimania, Alwady, Alyasmin, and Alsahafah. A self-reported questionnaire was used to assess the KAPs of participants, with questions regarding seasonal influenza and influenza vaccine immunisation. The scores of participants' knowledge showed that the majority had good knowledge regarding seasonal flu (64.5%) and the flu vaccine (73.3%). Furthermore, only 52% of participants had a positive attitude score towards the seasonal influenza vaccination. Despite that, significant knowledge gaps and mistaken beliefs regarding certain aspects of influenza were noted in participants, resulting in negative attitudes and perceptions as well as a reduced likelihood of being vaccinated. In this study, 43.7% of participants (267 out of 611) had ever received a flu vaccine. Participants with a history of previous vaccination had a significantly higher level of knowledge and more positive attitudes, which resulted in increased vaccination coverage. Therefore, educational strategies to improve knowledge regarding influenza in Riyadh are recommended.
流感感染仍然是沙特人口的一个危险，导致高死亡率和发病率；它也给政府带来了巨大的财政负担。政府通过卫生部采取了几种策略和方法，在遏制这种疾病方面取得了巨大成功。接种疫苗被认为是最合适的控制措施；不幸的是，大多数沙特居民，特别是在利雅得市，不认为接种疫苗是一种安全的健康做法。因此，许多人没有参加流感疫苗免疫接种计划。因此，本研究旨在评估沙特阿拉伯利雅得初级保健中心就诊的患者对季节性流感和流感疫苗接种的知识、态度和实践（KAP）。此外，本研究还调查了参与者的人口统计学特征与他们对流感疫苗接种的 KAP 之间的关系。本研究采用横断面、描述性、相关性研究，在利雅得的四家初级保健中心：Alsylimania、Alwady、Alyasmin 和 Alsahafah ，共对 611 人进行了调查。使用自我报告问卷评估参与者的 KAP，问题涉及季节性流感和流感疫苗接种。参与者知识得分表明，大多数人对季节性流感（64.5%）和流感疫苗（73.3%）有较好的了解。此外，只有 52%的参与者对季节性流感疫苗接种持积极态度。尽管如此，参与者对流感的某些方面仍存在显著的知识差距和误解，导致负面的态度和看法，以及接种疫苗的可能性降低。在本研究中，43.7%的参与者（611 人中有 267 人）曾接种过流感疫苗。有既往接种史的参与者知识水平显著提高，态度更为积极，从而提高了接种率。因此，建议在利雅得开展提高流感知识的教育策略。
