Knowledge, attitudes and practices related to influenza and influenza vaccine among healthcare workers in Chongqing, China—a cross-sectional study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Influenza is associated with a substantial disease burden, and influenza vaccination is recommended to all healthcare workers. We aimed to assess healthcare workers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices about influenza and its vaccine in Chongqing, China. A cross-sectional study was conducted at selected hospitals from September to November 2019, in which healthcare workers filled in a self-administered questionnaire. Both sentinel (42.92%) and non-sentinel hospitals (57.08%) were included. The majority were nurses (52.48%) and physicians (32.37%). Half (50.42%) of the respondents had a good command of knowledge, and the proportion of healthcare workers having a positive attitude accounted for 62.68%. The primary information sources were colleagues (58.81%), followed by television, newspapers and media (30.18%). The number of healthcare workers reported having got vaccinated last year was only 237 (16.78%), and the main reason was protecting themselves from influenza (93.25%). While the most common reasons given for not getting vaccinated were having no time (65.70%), believing it is unnecessary to get vaccinated (29.62%), worrying about the quality of influenza vaccine (27.49%) or the adverse reactions (25.70%). Factors associated with self-reported high vaccination were sentinel hospital (aOR: 1.427; 95% CI: 1.057–1.925), high-risk department (aOR: 1.919; 95% CI: 1.423–2.589), positive attitude (aOR: 2.429; 95% CI: 1.697–3.477) and taking the initiative to learn influenza information (aOR: 3.000; 95% CI: 1.983–4.538). We concluded that healthcare workers in Chongqing had some misconceptions although many of them showed a positive attitude toward the influenza vaccine. Various strategies, including educational training and on-site vaccination, are necessary to improve the knowledge and overall vaccination coverage.