Face to face interventions for informing or educating parents about early childhood vaccination

What is it about?

In this Cochrane systematic review, Jessica Kaufman and colleagues sought to answer: Do face to face education interventions targeting parents about early childhood vaccinations change vaccination rates, knowledge and attitudes towards vaccinations and vaccine-preventable diseases? Information or education interventions make people aware of the practical or logistical factors associated with vaccination or help them to understand the meaning and relevance of vaccination for themselves, their family or community. Face to face communication is interactive, efficient and can be tailored for people with low literacy or for contexts with limited resources.

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Why is it important?

The limited evidence available is low quality and suggests that face to face interventions to inform or educate parents about childhood vaccination have little to no impact on immunisation status, or knowledge or understanding of vaccination. There is insufficient evidence to comment on the cost of implementing the intervention, parent intention to vaccinate, parent experience of the intervention, or adverse effects. While face to face interventions alone have an apparently limited effect, the provider-parent interaction remains a regular and trusted source of information for many parents and it may be feasible and appropriate to incorporate additional communication interventions alongside the face to face communication.