Socio-Demographic Factors Associated with Poor KAP Regarding Diphtheria Vaccination among Adult Population at Risk in Muang, Nongbualamphu Province, Thailand

Abstract

Diphtheria is a serious acute, toxin-mediated disease with fatality rates between 5% and 10%. Outbreaks of diphtheria were reported in Thailand in 2012, which led the government to initiate health promotion activities including vaccination in the affected areas. Vaccination in particular confers to the personal choice of an adult, which in turn depends on his/her knowledge and attitude. This cross-sectional survey aimed to evaluate the socio-demographic factors that affect the respondents who had poor knowledge, attitude and preventive practice (KAP). Multi-stage random sampling was used to select 406 participants and KAP questionnaires were used for collecting data. Findings in the final multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that four  socio-demographic characteristics were statistically significantly related to  lower KAP scores at p < 0.05, including age (age group 20-39 years) [AOR=2.580; 95%CI=1.358-4.903], gender (male) [AOR=1.615; 95%CI=1.032-2.527], occupation (unemployed) [AOR=1.977; 95%CI=1.118-3.499], and distance from home to nearest hospital (> 20 kilometers) [AOR=17.474; 95%CI =4.040-75.589]. Therefore, to increase KAP regarding vaccination, health information activities should be focused on unemployed young adult males under 40 years, who live far away from hospitals.