title: Knowledge, risk perception and attitudes toward vaccination among Austrian health care workers: A cross-sectional study.
abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the vaccination coverage of Austrian health care workers (HCWs), their knowledge concerning the current guideline on vaccination for HCWs and their attitudes toward vaccination. A cross-sectional survey was performed by distributing 200 questionnaires among the nursing staff of several medical wards and intensive care units of the Vienna General Hospital. 116 questionnaires were returned for analysis with 77.4% female and 22.6% male participants. While certain vaccines like hepatitis B, tetanus and polio had high vaccination rates of up to 94% and good knowledge concerning the vaccination status, other vaccines like measles (59.8%), mumps (60.7%), rubella (70.5%), influenza (42.1%) or pertussis (58.2%) showed much lower coverage. The main sources of information were nursing school (59.1%), secondary school (46.1%), parents (45.2%) and media in general (45.2%). Only 21.9% of HCWs claimed to know the current guideline on vaccination. Those who knew the guideline were significantly more likely to consider certain vaccines like measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, polio and varicella as recommended (p ≤ 0.04). The most important reasons for receiving vaccination were self-protection (87.5%), prevention of epidemics (54.5%), protection of others (55.4%) and of patients (42.9%). Fear of side effects (67.2%), negative experiences with vaccines (22.4%), the additional doctor's appointment (20.7%) and considering vaccines as an invention by the pharmaceutical industry (19%) were hindering factors for vaccination of HCWs. Considering the essential role of HCWs in preventing diseases, this study noted a remarkable lack of information on vaccination in this profession.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Medicine I , Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Vienna , Vienna , Austria.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.affiliation: b Department of Medicine I , Intensive Care Unit, Medical University of Vienna , Vienna , Austria.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brand
authors.affiliation: a Department of Medicine I , Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Vienna , Vienna , Austria.|c Center of Infectious Diseases and Infection Control, Jena University Hospital , Jena , Germany.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Forstner
authors.affiliation: a Department of Medicine I , Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Vienna , Vienna , Austria.
authors.forename: Selma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tobudic
authors.affiliation: b Department of Medicine I , Intensive Care Unit, Medical University of Vienna , Vienna , Austria.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Burgmann
authors.affiliation: a Department of Medicine I , Division of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, Medical University of Vienna , Vienna , Austria.
authors.forename: Heinz
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Burgmann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001317:Austria; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014611:Vaccination / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: attitudes; guideline; health care workers; vaccination; vaccination coverage