Health education intervention to improve vaccination knowledge and attitudes in a cohort of obstetrics students

INTRODUCTION: To improve the vaccination coverage in pregnant women it is important to increase their knowledge of vaccines and related preventable diseases. Midwifes can play an important role because they are often the first contact for woman during her pregnancy. This study aimed to explore the vaccination knowledge and attitudes in a cohort of Obstetrics students in Italy and improve their knowledge through an informative health education intervention. METHODS: The study consisted in the administration of a first questionnaire followed by a health education intervention concerning all aspects of vaccinations. Then, a second questionnaire to evaluate the efficacy of the educational program was administered. RESULTS: From the pre-intervention questionnaire resulted that almost the whole sample (97.1%) were favorable to vaccines in general. Moreover, 65.7% of the participants declared a sufficient level of vaccination knowledge but 62.9% found herself unprepared to answer questions and provide information about vaccinations. Concerning the answers about vaccination in pregnancy, the correct answers went from 17.1 to 68.6% respectively before and after educational intervention. The training intervention obtained a total consensus (100%). The most part of the students (85.7%) declared that the received information changed some of their beliefs and the entire sample (100%) stated that it improved their preparation. CONCLUSIONS: Our results revealed some critical issues in the preparation of midwifes about vaccinations and confirm the necessity to carry out health intervention campaigns to these health professionals that, for the role they play, they must necessarily be well prepared.