Tdap Vaccination Acceptance Among Pregnant Hispanic Women: English versus Spanish Speakers

Abstract

Background: The Tetanus, Diphtheria and Acellular Pertussis vaccine (Tdap) for pregnant women was recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in 2012 to reduce pertussis morbidity and mortality in infants. The objective of the capstone study was to compare pregnant Hispanic women who preferred to communicate in English with those who preferred to communicate in Spanish within the context of their decision to accept or reject third-trimester Tdap vaccination. Method: Using the electronic medical record, a retrospective review was conducted to evaluate patient decisions about the Tdap vaccination among 386 Hispanic women who received prenatal care between 27 and 36 weeks in a large southwestern public health care system starting in June 1, 2013 through December 2, 2013. Results: After exploring any potential relationships of covariates to the dependent variable, logistic regression was used to explore the effect of the preference to communicate in English versus preference to communicate in Spanish on the decision to accept Tdap vaccination during pregnancy. Of all the predictor variables, only education level and number of total clinic visits were significant predictors of a decision to accept vaccination. Higher attainment of education increased the likelihood of accepting the Tdap vaccine increases. In addition, as the total number of clinic visits increased, the likelihood of accepting the Tdap vaccine also increased. The independent variable, Language, however, was not a significant predictor of accepting Tdap vaccination (p = .785). However, the model overall, was statistically significant, χ2

(7) = 40.22, p < .001, but with

a relatively low predictive power, Nagelkerke R 2 = .163.