Parent’s Knowledge on Rotavirus Diarrhea and Vaccine in Indonesia

Introduction: Parent’s knowledge on rotavirus diarrhea and vaccine might influence the decision to vaccinate a child. The purpose of this study was to examine knowledge level and to determine the factors that influence parents’ knowledge on rotavirus diarrhea and vaccine. Methods: The study applied an observational study design with a multi-center cross-sectional approach. The research instrument used a questionnaire to determine the sociodemographic variables and knowledge of respondents. Results: Data were collected from a survey of 500 parents in 5 provinces including Province of Central Kalimantan, Lampung, Central Sulawesi, West Java, and Yogyakarta in Indonesia using convenience sampling technique. Parents’ knowledge in this study was quite good with the average score of 78.2 ± 16.81. However, out of 500 respondents, only 158 (31.6%) parents knew that the rotavirus vaccine was not included in Indonesia s national health insurance program. There was a significant difference in the average of knowledge between the characteristics groups of age, education, monthly expenditure and experience of hearing diarrhea and rotavirus vaccine, vaccinating and source of disease information and vaccine (p 0.05). Conclusion: This study suggests the need of health promotion related to rotavirus diarrhea and vaccine in order to achieve equitable distribution of information and increase public knowledge to support future immunization programs.