Date of Award

Spring 5-14-2022

Document Type

Scholarly Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Department

Nursing

First Advisor

Karen Johnson

Second Advisor

Tracy Stahl

Third Advisor

Kris Mijares

Abstract

Introduction

A large Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Southeast Kansas has a 37% compliance of children completing the recommended combo 10 primary vaccination series before their second birthday. An additional 20% of children would be compliant if the flu vaccine was excluded, raising the compliance rate to 57%. This is still below the national average of 68-75%, leaving many children in Southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma unprotected from preventable childhood diseases.

Purpose

The purpose of this scholarly project was to identify barriers to vaccination, including vaccine hesitancy and socioeconomic barriers affecting completion of the primary vaccine series, or combo 10, in children under age two in Southeast Kansas.

Materials/Methods

This descriptive study used a validated questionnaire, the Searching for Hardships and Obstacles to Shots (SHOTS) survey to gather information about parental attitudes toward vaccination and socioeconomic barriers that may be affecting vaccination rates in children under the age of two in Southeast Kansas.

Results/Conclusion

Concerns about shots was the most problematic for this population, followed by importance of shots, then access to shots. Although concerns about vaccines may contribute to low vaccination rates, demographic data indicate that 77% children are fully vaccinated to the knowledge of the parent/guardian, implying that there are likely other factors that are contributing low vaccination rates.

Download

Included in

Nursing Commons

Share

COinS