title: The intention to get vaccinated against influenza and actual vaccination uptake of Dutch healthcare personnel.
abstract: Health Authorities recommend annual vaccination of healthcare personnel (HCP) against influenza to protect vulnerable patients. Nevertheless, vaccination rates have been low among European HCP. Here we report on a longitudinal survey study to identify social cognitive predictors of the motivation to obtain influenza vaccination, and to test whether intention is a good predictor of actual vaccination behaviour. Dutch HCP (N=1370) were invited to participate in a survey (baseline). To link intention to behaviour, participants who completed the first survey (N=556) were sent a second survey after vaccinations were offered (follow-up). Multinominal regression analysis showed that HCP with a positive attitude and a higher frequency of past vaccinations were more likely to have a high intention to get vaccinated. A negative attitude, high feelings of autonomy in the decision whether to get vaccinated, a preference of inaction over vaccination, a lesser sense of personal responsibility, and high self-protection motives increased the probability of no intention to get vaccinated. Social cognitive predictors were identified that explain the intention to get vaccinated against influenza of HCP, which in turn proved to be a good predictor of behaviour. Future interventions should focus on these variables to increase vaccination coverage rates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Work & Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: birthe.lehmann@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
authors.forename: Birthe A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Lehmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Work & Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: r.ruiter@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
authors.forename: Robert A C
authors.initials: RAC
authors.lastname: Ruiter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, 152 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8020, United States. Electronic address: gretchen.chapman@rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Gretchen
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chapman
authors.affiliation: Department of Work & Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: g.kok@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
authors.forename: Gerjo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kok
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D007252:Influenza Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D007252:Influenza Vaccines
keywords: Healthcare personnel; Hospital; Influenza vaccination; Social-cognitive predictors; Vaccination uptake