Vaccination uptake among Australian early childhood education staff: assessing perceptions, behaviours and workplace practices

Effect of infection control education program on childcare educator knowledge and confidence

ISSUE ADDRESSED

Childcare educator knowledge gaps in infection control practices and outbreak management. This can contribute to the well-reported issue of transmission of infectious diseases in childcare centres and the associated health and economic costs.

METHODS

A health promotion program in the form of an educational slideshow presentation with interactive question/answer component was developed and offered to all childcare centre staff in the Wide Bay region, Queensland.

RESULTS

Childcare educators who participated in the education sessions reported a significant increase in their knowledge and confidence in outbreak management on pre- and post-intervention self-assessment.

CONCLUSIONS

Simple educational programs can significantly improve the self-assessed knowledge and confidence of childcare educators in managing infectious diseases. SO WHAT?: Improving knowledge and confidence of childcare centre staff in managing basic infectious diseases can help reduce the health and economic impacts of these infections. Simple educational health promotion programs could be introduced as part of an orientation program for new staff, or refreshers for existing staff.

An Examination of Employee Immunization Policies Among Colorado Child Care Providers

BACKGROUND

Child care employee vaccination policies can protect children and adults from vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) in child care programs. We aimed to understand the prevalence and characteristics of employee immunization policies at child care facilities and support among child care administrators for statewide employee vaccination regulations.

METHODS

A postal mail survey was distributed to a cross-sectional sample of 300 center-based and 300 home-based child care programs in Colorado. Programs were asked to report whether they had any type of policy requiring employee immunizations and if they would support statewide regulations mandating employee immunizations for influenza, pertussis, and measles.

RESULTS

The response rate was 48% (288/600). About 55% of child care programs reported having an employee immunization policy. Child care centers (73%) were more likely than home-based child care programs (30%, P < .001) to report having a policy. Overall, 62% of respondents reported that they would support one or more statewide regulations requiring child care employees to be vaccinated. Home-based programs (71%) were more likely than center-based programs (53%, P = .001) to support one or more statewide child care employee immunization regulations.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings demonstrate the variability of employee immunization policies at child care programs across Colorado. These results may be used to inform strategies to increase employee immunization uptake and reduce the incidence of VPDs, including developing comprehensive employee immunization policies at the facility and state level. Future research is needed to understand vaccination knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors among child care employees including their perspectives on employee vaccination policies and regulations.