title: [Beliefs, attitudes and influence of the media in Spanish health care workers during the A (H1N1) 2009 flu pandemic].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this article is to report, from their own perspective, the attitudes and believes towards vaccination, with special emphasis on the influence of sources of information to make the decision to get vaccinated, of health care workers (HCWs), considered as a specific risk group for immunization strategy against A (H1N1) influenza.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional observational study focused on active health workers in the province of Alicante. Made by face to face questionnaires to a stratified random sample based on occupational categories in hospitals and health care centres.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The sources of information differ between subgroups; physicians used journals and/or conferences, nurses obtained information through the Ministry of Health and other nurses, and the remaining workers opted for television and/or the family physician. Of the three studied groups, physicians felt minor concern about the influenza A (H1N1) pandemic (59.4%), had the most confidence in the vaccine (42.3%), were the ones who recommended the vaccine the most (44.4%), who best followed the recommendations to avoid infection (93%), and were the most vaccinated (18.3%). Around three-quarters (75.5%) of the HCWs assessed the provided information as fair, poor or very poor. All HCWs admitted that a social alarm was created.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The success of future immunization campaigns against influenza in HCWs could increase if information activities were designed to focus on each subgroup of HCWs, by adapting the strategy and improving the quality of information.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, España. tuells@ua.es
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tuells
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caballero
authors.forename: Andreu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nolasco
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D008875:Middle Aged; D058873:Pandemics; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014611:Vaccination