Improving Routine Immunization coverage through strengthening Interpersonal Comminication skills of primary health care workers in rural Local government areas in kebbi state Nigeria

Abstract

Background: In 2015, Kebbi state was among the four (4) states in northwestern Nigeria that have low routine immunization performance in the country. National Nutrition and Health Survey 2015 report indicated that only 7.8% of the eligible children have received three doses of DPT/Penta and measles coverage was 14.7%. There was no documented research to investigate the effect of interpersonal communication skills on routine immunization services in Kebbi state Nigeria. The objective of this study, therefore, was to examine the effect of vaccination education on improving mothers’ knowledge and uptake of routine immunization services among children in the rural LGAs of Kebbi State. Methods: The study was a quasi-experimental one was conducted in two Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Kebbi State, between October 2016 to March 2017. Health Education Officers and Primary Health Care workers trained from the intervention centers were trained on interpersonal communication skills. Data were collected using a questionnaire on the vaccination status of the children after intervention from children’s vaccination cards and mother’s verbal reports. The knowledge, attitude, and practice of mothers were also analyzed. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and student t-test were used to test the effect of the intervention on knowledge, attitude and practice, and immunization coverage between the control group and intervention group. Results: There was a significant difference in the mean scores for knowledge at baseline in the intervention group (M =2.01, SD = 2.99) compared with mean knowledge at the end line (M = 5.42, SD = 3.35). The mean difference of 3.40 between baseline and end-line indicated that knowledge of mothers/caregivers on routine immunization has increased after the intervention. 53.8% of children in the intervention group were fully immunized while in the control it was 9.5% increasing only by about 2%. The percentage of unimmunized children was high in both groups at pre-intervention (66%) but this decreased to 29.5% in the intervention group and 57.6% in the control group. There was a statistically significant difference of change of attitude between intervention and control group after intervention with p=<0.001. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the use of IPC skills intervention could improve Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice consequently improving routine immunization. Such improvement could translate into better immunization performance.