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Attitudes and barriers associated with seasonal influenza vaccination uptake among public health students; a cross-sectional study

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Public Health, September 2018
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (96th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (96th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
8 news outlets
blogs
1 blog
policy
1 policy source
twitter
8 X users
facebook
1 Facebook page

Citations

dimensions_citation
51 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
143 Mendeley
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Title
Attitudes and barriers associated with seasonal influenza vaccination uptake among public health students; a cross-sectional study
Published in
BMC Public Health, September 2018
DOI 10.1186/s12889-018-6041-1
Pubmed ID
Authors

Christopher J. Rogers, Kaitlin O. Bahr, Stephanie M. Benjamin

Abstract

Although research has explored influenza vaccination uptake among medical and college students, there is a dearth of research in understanding influenza vaccination uptake and attitudes toward the vaccine among future public health practitioners. Undergraduate public health students represent future public health practitioners who may be a significant educational resource for health information, including the importance of vaccinations. This cross-sectional study utilized survey data from 158 undergraduate public health students attending a large public university in Southern California. The survey assessed public health students' attitudes and beliefs towards the seasonal influenza vaccine and seasonal vaccination rates among this population. Over 88% of respondents reported having been encouraged to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine, while only 43.0% reported receipt. Of the students who reported not receiving the vaccine, 49.4% believed it may give them the flu, 30.4% believed there may be dangerous side effects, and 28.9% believed they were not at risk for contracting the flu. Access to health care practitioners (OR: 3.947, 95% CI [1.308-11.906]) and social encouragement (OR: 3.139, 95% CI [1.447-6.811]) were significantly associated with receipt of the seasonal influenza vaccine. As public health program curriculum includes information about seasonal influenza vaccination and 68% of the sample were seniors soon to be exiting the program with an undergraduate degree in public health education, this low seasonal influenza vaccination rate is disturbing. This study may add to the body of data demonstrating how knowledge of the vaccine does not always guarantee vaccine uptake. Results of the current study suggest that it may be beneficial to provide additional information targeted to public health students, aimed at mediating safety concerns and increasing social pressure to assist in improving vaccine acceptance and rates in this population. Maximizing seasonal influenza vaccination uptake by addressing attitudes, barriers and misperceptions may not only improve vaccination rates among public health students, but also in communities served by these future public health practitioners.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 8 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 143 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 143 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 26 18%
Student > Bachelor 20 14%
Researcher 9 6%
Student > Doctoral Student 8 6%
Student > Ph. D. Student 7 5%
Other 23 16%
Unknown 50 35%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 27 19%
Nursing and Health Professions 18 13%
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science 6 4%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 5 3%
Social Sciences 5 3%
Other 20 14%
Unknown 62 43%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 81. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 06 May 2021.
All research outputs
#511,921
of 24,938,276 outputs
Outputs from BMC Public Health
#477
of 16,598 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#11,237
of 347,667 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Public Health
#8
of 223 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,938,276 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 97th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 16,598 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.4. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 347,667 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 223 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 96% of its contemporaries.