Influence of Family Structure and Functionality on Immunization Status of Infants Attending GOPC of BMC Saki

摘要

Introduction: Vaccine-preventable diseases are endemic in Nigeria, and contribute greatly to childhood morbidities and mortalities. Good family structure has been reported to improve children's wellbeing, health and eating habit, but the contribution of family structure together with family functionality on immunization status has not been documented. Overall, the goal of the research was to determine the level of immunization status in the study population, assess their knowledge of immunization and determine what influence family structure and functionality have on children's immunization status.Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2016 in the General outpatient clinic (GOPC) of Baptist Medical Centre (BMC), Saki, Oyo State. Family APGAR Scale and self-design questionnaire were used to collect data from 299 respondents using systematic sampling technique. A SPSS (version 21) was used for the analysis.Results: Our results showed that 82.9% of the respondents were fully immunized and 98% had knowledge about Immunization. Majority of the respondents came from functional families, accounting for 85.6% of cases. The following factors were found to be statistically significantly associated with immunization status: family functionality (X2 = 101.694, P = 0.000), family type (p value =0.000), family size (p value = 0.000), ethnic group (p value = 0.000) and number of children (P value = 0.000)Conclusion: Our findings showed that there is an adequate knowledge of immunization in the study population, and that a child's immunization status is significantly influenced by the family structure and functionality. However, given the fact that this is a single, hospital-based study, several multi-center studies would have to be employed not just to validate this conclusion but also to inform policy making.