Department of Medical Epidemiology, Pasteur Institute of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia.
Département de communication sociale, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Recherche en Enseignement Supérieur (LIRES), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Québec, QC, Canada.
Front Public Health. 2023 Aug 16;11:1212431. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1212431. eCollection 2023.
Pregnant women (PW) and older adult with chronic diseases (ECD) are priority groups for the influenza vaccination. This study was designed to have a better insight into the influenza perceptions and barriers of the vaccine uptake from these groups' perspectives.
This qualitative study consisted of 20 focus group discussions (FGDs) enrolled from five governorates across the country (north, center, and south) between March 18 and July 10, 2019, in urban and rural areas. FGDs were conducted in Arabic (Tunisian dialect) and following the topic guide. Data were transcribed in the local language then translated into English and analyzed using Nvivo12 Software. This permitted the analysis thematic approach, using codes determined by the focus groups.
A total of 170 individuals participated in the FGDs (84 ECD and 86 PW). Both groups recognized the weakness of the immune system as key determinant for severity. While PW raised the lack of information about the vaccine, the ECD emphasized accessibility problems. Five main barriers to influenza vaccination were identified: cultural barriers and use of traditional medicine, misleading or lack of information about influenza and the vaccine, advice against its uptake, problems of availability and accessibility of the vaccine as well as mistrust towards the vaccine including adverse effects, vaccine composition and effectiveness.
The study provided refined information from the perspectives of users to orient the policies regarding the promotion of influenza vaccine by decision makers among these two high risk groups.
孕妇和患有慢性病的老年人是流感疫苗接种的优先群体。本研究旨在更深入地了解这两个群体对流感疫苗的认知和接种障碍。
本定性研究于 2019 年 3 月 18 日至 7 月 10 日在全国五个省（北部、中部和南部）的城乡地区进行，共纳入了 20 次焦点小组讨论（FGD）。FGD 以阿拉伯语（突尼斯方言）进行，并遵循主题指南。数据以当地语言记录，然后翻译成英语，并使用 Nvivo12 软件进行分析。这允许使用由焦点小组确定的代码进行主题分析。
共有 170 人参加了 FGD（84 名患有慢性病，86 名孕妇）。这两个群体都认识到免疫系统薄弱是严重程度的关键决定因素。虽然孕妇提到缺乏有关疫苗的信息，但慢性病患者强调了获取疫苗的问题。确定了五个流感疫苗接种的主要障碍：文化障碍和传统医学的使用、对流感和疫苗的误解或缺乏信息、反对接种疫苗的建议、疫苗供应和获取的问题以及对疫苗的不信任，包括不良反应、疫苗成分和有效性。
本研究从用户的角度提供了更详细的信息，为决策者在这两个高风险群体中推广流感疫苗提供了参考。
