Compliance to Childhood Immunization Schedule among Caregivers of Children 0- 23 Months in Informal Settlements in Nairobi City County, Kenya
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Date
2020
Authors
Amugune, Ponventras Buliva
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
kenyatta University
Abstract
Childhood immunization has played a big role in universal child survival; it has been
used to eradicate infectious communicable illnesses and also in the control of
epidemics and outbreaks in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. With most health
initiative researches in Kenya focusing on rural areas, Informal settlements have
always been overlooked when it comes to health improvement efforts by stakeholders.
The study objectives were : To establish the influence of level of knowledge on
compliance to childhood immunization schedule; To establish the influence of
caregiver perception on immunization on compliance to childhood immunization
schedule; To determine the influence of caregivers practices on compliance to
childhood immunization schedule; To determine the influence of access to healthcare
services on compliance to childhood immunization schedule among caregivers of
children 0 – 23 months in informal settlements in Nairobi city County, Kenya. The
study sites were Viwandani and Mukuru kwa Njenga informal settlements in Nairobi
city County, Kenya. A descriptive research design was used for this study. Pre-test of
the research instrument was done in Mathare informal settlement using 10% of the
study sample size. Purposive sampling was used to select Viwandani and Mukuru
areas and cluster sampling was used to select the number of villages in Mukuru kwa
Njenga Simple random sampling was used to select the study participants.
Quantitative data was collected through questionnaires. The study used SPSS version
22 to establish the descriptive and inferential results regarding the mean, frequencies,
standard deviation, regression and correlation. The results were presented in form of
tables. The findings revealed that 91.8% of caregivers had taken their children for
vaccination at the appropriate age and had complied to the immunization schedule.
Only 67.8% of the respondents knew the age at which vaccination was to start. Only
73.2% of respondents could mention diseases prevented by immunization and most
caregivers 56% got information on immunization from healthcare workers. The test of
independence at significance level of 0.01 results showed that the main determinants
of compliance to immunization were level of knowledge (R² = 0.033, df = 1, P<0.003),
access to health services (R² = 0.192, df= 1, P<0.0001), caregiver perception (R² =
0.289, df=1, P<0.0001 and caregiver practices (R² = 0.002, df=1, P<0.854). The
concept of childhood immunization schedule needs to be incorporated in the
education curricula, programs for non-formal education and adult literacy programs,
this will help magnify the importance of immunization and as well as show the
demerits not complying with immunization schedule as well as harmful consequences
of incomplete immunization. Perception of caregivers can be improved by training
and educating caregivers on importance of compliance to childhood immunization
schedule.
Description
A Research Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Master of Public Health (Monitoring and Evaluation) in the School of Public Health and Applied Human Sciences Of Kenyatta University, November, 2020
Keywords
Compliance, Childhood Immunization Schedule, Caregivers, Children 0- 23 Months, Informal Settlements, Nairobi City County, Kenya