Knowledge and attitudes of mothers regarding childhood immunisation attending the immunisation clinic of a specialised children’s hospital in Central Sri Lanka

Background: Mothers should be well-informed about the vaccines available in the National Immunisation Programme.
Objectives: To assess knowledge and attitudes of mothers attending the immunisation clinic in a specialised children’s hospital regarding the childhood immunisation programme and to find associations between knowledge and attitudes of mothers and their socio-demographic characteristics.
Method: Socio-demographic characteristics included age, ethnicity, educational level, occupation, number of children and monthly family income. Data were collected via a self-administered questionnaire from mothers attending immunisation clinic at a specialised children’s hospital. The collected data were analysed using SPSS version 26. The chi-square test was used to analyse associations between categorical variables.
Results: A total of 189 mothers was recruited. Mean knowledge score of mothers was 58%. Nearly 75% mothers had a positive attitude towards vaccination.  Knowledge of childhood vaccination was significantly associated with mothers’ level of education (p=0.003), ethnicity (p=0.003), and monthly income (p=0.003). Attitude towards vaccination was significantly associated with mothers’ level of education (p<0.001), ethnicity (p<0.001), and monthly income (p<0.001).
Conclusions: Knowledge and attitude of mothers about childhood immunisation were significantly associated with their level of education, ethnicity, and monthly income.