학술논문

Parental awareness and attitudes towards prevention of respiratory syncytial virus in infants and young children in Australia.
Document Type
Article
Source
Acta Paediatrica. Apr2024, Vol. 113 Issue 4, p786-794. 9p.
Subject
*PARENT attitudes
*RESPIRATORY syncytial virus
*LOGISTIC regression analysis
*INFANTS
*INDIGENOUS Australians
Language
ISSN
0803-5253
Abstract
Aim: To assess parental awareness of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the level of acceptance of future RSV prevention strategies. Methods: A cross‐sectional online survey was implemented targeting "future" and "current" parents of children aged ≤5 years in Australia. Results: From 1992 eligible participants, two non‐mutually exclusive subgroups were formed: "current" parents (N = 1931) and "pregnant/planning" parents (N = 464: 403 also "current" parents and 61 "future" parents). Participants were predominantly (86.6%) aged 25–39 years and 68.5% with university education. The majority (89.6% current; 78.7% future) had heard of RSV. Of those, 64.2% (current) and 50.0% (future) were aware that pneumonia is associated with RSV; 71.8% (current) and 52.1% (future) were aware that bronchiolitis is associated with RSV. In multivariable logistic regression analyses, Australian‐born parents (aOR = 2.47 [95% CI: 1.48–4.12]), living in the eastern states (e.g., New South Wales: aOR = 6.15 [95% CI:2.10–18.04]), with a university‐level education (aOR = 2.61 [95% CI:1.38–4.94]) and being a current parent (aOR = 12.26 [95% CI:2.82–53.28]) were associated with higher RSV awareness. There was a high level of acceptance for maternal vaccines (future: 79.3%) and infant immunisation (all: 81.7%). Conclusion: While RSV awareness and immunisation acceptance were high, there was limited knowledge of severity of RSV, especially in future parents. Education campaigns need to be developed to increase RSV knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]