A qualitative evaluation to explore the suitability, feasibility and acceptability of using a ‘celebration card’ intervention in primary care to improve the uptake of childhood vaccinations

BMC Family Practice

Research Article

Ruth Barnes¹  Stuart A. Green¹  Jane Connor²  Saumu Lwembe³  Nuttan Tanna⁴  Colin Valler⁵ 

[1] Centre for Healthcare Improvement and Research, Imperial College London, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Fulham Road, SW10 9NH, London, UK;London Borough of Hackney, Growth Boroughs Unit, 2 Hillman Street or 2nd Floor, Woolwich Centre, E8 1FB, London, UK;Royal Borough of Greenwich, Public Health and Wellbeing, 2nd Floor, Woolwich Centre, SE18 6HQ, London, UK;London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, W1H 9SH, London, UK;Northwest London Hospitals NHS Trust, Watford Road, HA1 3UJ, Harrow, UK;Sanofi Pasteur MSD, Mallards Reach, Bridge Avenue, SL6 1QP, Maidenhead, UK;

关键词: Evaluation Studies;    Vaccination;    Primary Health Care;    Communication;    Social Marketing;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12875-016-0497-9

 received in 2015-10-13, accepted in 2016-07-21,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundChildhood vaccination remains a primary mechanism for reducing the burden of infectious disease. In the United Kingdom, as in many countries, a sustained effort is required to ensure that vaccination targets are met to afford protection to the whole population from vaccine preventable disease. The Celebrate and Protect programme is a collaborative partnership developed to improve the uptake of childhood vaccination across a number of boroughs within London through the use of a celebration card to encourage attendance for vaccination and enhance relationships between general practices and the parents/carers of children.MethodsThis study was undertaken to assess the suitability, feasibility and acceptability of the Celebrate and Protect programme across nine boroughs in London. Data were collected either from telephone interviews (n = 24) or from focus groups (n = 31). A total of 55 key informants were included in the study, representing strategic, commissioning or policy leads, healthcare professionals and primary care teams delivering vaccinations and parents/carers of children under five.ResultsThe analysis of data identified that whilst parents/carers saw the celebration card positively this raised the issue of ‘vaccine hesitancy’ and the lack of information that parents/carers have to make informed decisions about vaccination. Similarly, healthcare professionals viewed the programme positively and felt that it was deliverable within existing resources although they raised wider questions about on-going sustainability and about quantitative data collection. In relation to the collaboration between primary care and a pharmaceutical company in developing the Celebrate and Protect programme, it was generally felt that, provided appropriate governance is in place, it was a pragmatic approach in which the benefits outweighed any perceived disadvantages.DiscussionThe Celebrate and Protect programme was seen as an innovative collaborative programme to engage with parents and carers of children in order to improve relationships between service users and providers and subsequently increase vaccination uptake. The analysis demonstrates that that the celebration card is suitable for its purpose, acceptable to both healthcare professionals and to parents/carers of children and the Celebrate and Protect programme has been able to deliver its aims.ConclusionWhilst the delivery of the ‘celebration card’ intervention in primary met its objectives there are some outstanding issues in terms of the sustainability of the initiative and the ability to demonstrate quantitative improvements in vaccination uptake rates.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016