Objective:
To assess Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) towards pneumococcal vaccine among the population in Saudi Arabia.
Methods:
A cross sectional study was conducted on 302 subjects via google form questionnaire online. It provided information on personal and sociodemographic characteristics, morbid history, and KAP on pneumococcal vaccine.
Results:
The total number of enrolled subjects for the present study was 302 (27.2% males and 72.8% females). Majority of the subjects were Saudis (71.9%). The mean age was 32.4 years (SD: 12.2). Over half of the subjects (56.95%) believed that their bodies could fight pneumonia infection without vaccine. This finding was independent of age (mean age= 32.8 ±12.7 as compared to the younger ones, mean age= 30.4±9.7) where t = 1.38, and p < 0.16. The KAP of the subjects about pneumococcal pneumonia and its vaccine was low. Factor analysis revealed that factor-1 was significantly associated with most of the scores of the questions on knowledge, attitude and practice; therefore factor-1 was considered representing the variance in these variables. On the other hand age, gender, nationality and education level had loading of 0.170, -0.141, 0.099, and -0.134 on factor-1, respectively.
Conclusions:
The present study showed inferior knowledge among most of the participants with positive attitude towards practicing pneumococcal vaccine. Thus, it is recommended that health education programs about Streptococcus pneumonia infection and its adverse effects on the respiratory system and importance of taking the vaccine in preventing this disorder should be conducted.
Key words: Streptococcus pneumonia, vaccination, determinants, KAP, Saudi Arabia.
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