Parental Perspectives on Childhood Vaccination: Analysing Knowledge and Attitudes Among Families in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia

Purpose: To ascertain the knowledge and attitudes of parents on childhood vaccination in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, as well as their perceived barriers to vaccination. Patients and Methods: Three hundred and thirty parents were selected in this cross-sectional study by convenience sampling from the parents who attended several primary healthcare facilities to vaccinate their children. A pre-made questionnaire was used, which included the sociodemographic characteristics and questions about the parents' knowledge, attitude toward childhood vaccination, and compliance with vaccination according to the immunization schedule. The associations between the research variables were evaluated using chi-square, the Pearson correlation, and multiple binary logistic regression. Results: Among the parents studied, 66.1% had adequate knowledge of childhood vaccination, and 55.5% held positive attitudes toward it. The significant associated factors for adequate knowledge and positive attitude were the age from 30 to < 40 (OR: 2.6 and 2.3, P< 0.05), increasing education level (OR: 2.1 and 1.7, P< 0.05), and work related to the health sector (OR: 2.7 and 4.4, P< 0.05). The examined parents' attitude score increased significantly with the high level of knowledge score (r = 0.603, P < 0.001). Among the parents studied, 62.9% adhered to the childhood immunization schedule. In contrast, the most common perceived barriers for those who did not comply were the illness of a family member (36.7%), the child's sickness (32.8%), or being busy on vaccination day (31.4%). Conclusion: Around half of the parents in this study had a positive attitude and understood the significance of vaccination. Nevertheless, the contributory factors of insufficient knowledge and attitude, like lower levels of education and advanced age, should be handled through health education initiatives to raise their awareness and motivate them to complete their children's vaccination. Keywords: childhood vaccination, parents, knowledge, attitude, immunization barriers