title: Beliefs and practices of Ontario midwives about influenza immunization.
abstract: With an increasing number of births in Ontario being conducted by midwives, we undertook a survey of the beliefs and practices of 256 licensed Ontario midwives and student midwives about immunization, particularly against influenza. Overall, 42.9% (48/112) of midwives considered that they knew a lot about immunization; however, 36.2% (38/105) reported no education about immunization during their training. A small majority (55.9%) were in favour of vaccination in general and only 2 of 113 reported spending more than 1h discussing vaccination with their clients. Only 26.9% reported having received influenza vaccine in the previous season (compared to 60% of all health care workers in Ontario). Overall, only 37% believed that influenza vaccine is effective, and 22% believed that the vaccine was a greater risk than influenza. Graduation in 1998 or prior was associated with belief in the effectiveness in vaccine, having been vaccinated, and recommending vaccine to clients. Midwives who reported being immunized themselves were more likely to believe in the safety and efficacy of influenza vaccine, and to recommend vaccination to their clients (26% versus 3%, p=0.001). If greater attention is not focused on promoting the utility of immunization to midwives, the success of population immunization programs may be compromised.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, 600 University Avenue, Room 1460, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X5.
authors.forename: Todd
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Refik
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saskin
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McArthur
authors.forename: Allison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McGeer
mesh_terms: D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003469:Culture; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D008880:Midwifery / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016017:Odds Ratio; D009864:Ontario
chemical_list: D007252:Influenza Vaccines