title: Attitude toward immunization and risk perception of measles, rubella, mumps, varicella, and pertussis in health care workers working in 6 hospitals of Florence, Italy 2011.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health care workers (HCWs) are at risk of infection and transmission of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases. In recent years cases of measles or varicella in health care workers were observed with increasing frequency. The aim of our study was to investigate attitude toward immunization and risk perception of measles, rubella, mumps, varicella, and pertussis in HCWs working in 6 hospitals of Florence (Italy).
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey among the physicians, nurses, midwives, and nursing assistants working in selected departments was performed trough a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire. Overall, 600 questionnaires were sent and 436 HCWs' completed forms were included into the study (Participation rate: 72.7%). Data were analyzed with STATA 11.0® and odds ratio (OR) were calculated in a multivariate analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among all respondents 74.9% were females. The average age was nearly 43-years-old (42.9-SD 8.95). The majority of participants (58.6%) were nurses, 21.3% physicians, 12.9% nursing assistants, and 7.2% were midwives. Among those HCWs reporting no history of disease, 52.8% (95% CI: 42.0-63.3%) declared to have been immunized for measles, 46.9% for rubella (95% CI: 39.0-54.9%), 21.6% for mumps (95% CI: 15.1-29.4%), 14.9% for varicella (95% CI: 7.4-25.7%), and 14.5% for pertussis (95% CI: 10.0-20.0%). When considering potentially susceptible HCWs (without history of disease or vaccination and without serological confirmation), less than a half of them feel at risk for the concerned diseases and only less than 30% would undergo immunization. One of the main reasons of the relatively low coverage was indeed lack of active offer of vaccines.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Attitudes toward immunization observed in this study are generally positive for preventing some infectious diseases (i.e., measles and rubella), but relatively poor for others (i.e., varicella). More information should be made available to HCWs on the benefits of vaccination and efforts to encourage vaccination uptake should be performed. Educational program on the risk of being infected working in a hospital should be implemented in order to increase the risk perception toward infectious diseases among HCWs.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Health Sciences; Section of Hygiene; Preventive Medicine and Public Health ; University of Florence ; Florence , Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Taddei
authors.forename: Vega
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ceccherini
authors.forename: Giuditta
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Niccolai
authors.forename: Barbara Rita
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Porchia
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Boccalini
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Levi
authors.forename: Emilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tiscione
authors.forename: Maria Grazia
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Santini
authors.forename: Simonetta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baretti
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bonanni
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bechini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014917:Whooping Cough / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: EU, European; HCW, Health Care Worker; HCWs immunization; SD, standard deviation; VPD, vaccine preventable disease; VZV, varicella zoster virus; health care workers (HCWs); measles; mumps; pertussis; risk perception; rubella; vaccine preventable diseases; varicella