Parental opinions wanted for flu vaccines

Times Reporter 

 

Influenza. It’s a nasty word that no one likes to hear and a condition no one wants to deal with from. Yet the percentage of children getting their free annual flu shot is lower than expected despite the fact that it has been free for Albertans since 2009.

Candace Lind, RN, PhD with the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Calgary and Dr. Margaret Russell a researcher and physician at the University of Calgary’s Institute for Public Health have launched a research project to find out how we can see more children getting their vaccine. 

By vaccinating your children you’re not only protecting them, you’re also helping stop the spreading of the flu to family, and community members. 

“We’re investigating and figuring out an efficient way to vaccinate children against influenza and thinking about if our rates are still low for flu vaccine in children how might we actually have something that’s more acceptable. How can we build a more acceptable flu vaccination program for children,” said Lind. 

“One thing we’re looking at is how feasible would it be to vaccinate children at school. There are already vaccinations in schools, hepatitis B, tetanus and those sorts of things and they have good vaccination rates for those. So we’re looking at how feasible would it be to actually bring school vaccinations for (the) flu into schools.”  

There are a few different groups they will be talking to but Lind said this particular research project is to get parents perspectives, opinions and input on how to build an acceptable flu vaccination program in their children’s schools. Lind said parents are rarely asked for their opinions when it comes to projects such as this. 

“An efficient way to vaccinate children against influenza is to vaccinate them at school but this is not currently done. Children already receive some vaccinations at school so adding a yearly flu shot could be an option for public health to consider if parents are interested, “said Russell in a press release. 

“Parents are the people who decide if, and where, their children should be vaccinated. It is essential to consider the needs and perspectives of parents if school based flu vaccination programs are to be designed and carried out in the future.”

Lind said the goal is to target both the urban and rural parents in order to get a wide range of information. Focus groups will be used to gather the information for the study. They will take one to two hours to complete, and will be held in a location close to the parents’ community. 

“We’re not expecting people to drive into Calgary to do a focus group. When we have enough parents in a certain area then we will come out to them,” said Lind. 

Parents interested in participating in the focus group can either call 403-220-2695 or email sbiv@ucalgary.ca. There is a bit of a screening process said Lind, and once that’s complete a focus group is planned based on the parents availability, what community they are in, and how many people are interested.