Barriers to vaccination among Japanese medical students: focus group interviews.
BACKGROUND
To date, medical schools and clinical training hospitals in Japan that require students to show immunity for measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (chickenpox), and hepatitis B prior to the commencement of residency are limited.


METHODS
This qualitative study used focus group interviews to elucidate why medical students do not undergo vaccination. A total of three groups were identified and interviewed: group A (two men, three women), group B (two men, two women), group C (three men, two women). All recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed according to the constant comparative method with a series of codes and categories.


RESULTS
Findings elucidated that vaccination for medical students is not mandatory in Japan. Analysis found that the factors that influence willingness to be vaccinated can be divided into three dimensions (individual level, university/regional hospital level, governmental level) and two primary categories (cost of vaccination, awareness of vaccination) consisting of 10 codes. These factors did not exist in isolation, but have mutually overlapping areas.


CONCLUSIONS
Vaccination against vaccine-preventable diseases is essential to a hospital's infectious-disease countermeasures and cannot continue to be overlooked by physicians (at the individual level), by universities and residency programs (at the community level) nor by the government (at the national level).
Department of Health Informatics, Kyoto University School of Public Health, Kyoto, Japan.
Shigeru
S
Okamoto
Brian Taylor
BT
Slingsby
Takeo
T
Nakayama
Kanae
K
Nakamura
Risa
R
Fukuda
Harumi
H
Gomi-Yano
Hiroshi
H
Ohno
Tadashi
T
Matsumura
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001364:Awareness; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014611:Vaccination / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014612:Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use
D014612:Vaccines