ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF CHILD IMMUNIZATION AMONG NURSING MOTHERS IN MAKURDI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF BENUE STATE

Abstract

This study assessed the knowledge and practice of child immunisation among nursing
mothers in Makurdi Local Government area of Benue State, based on level of education.
A descriptive survey research design was used in this study. From a population of 806 nursing mothers registered in the 62 maternity healthcare centres in Makurdi, simple
random sampling technique of deep and pick was used to select 18 maternity healthcare
centres out of the available 62 maternity healthcare centres in Makurdi, from which
Simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 198 respondents
for this study. The instrument was a self-structured questionnaire titled “Knowledge and
Practice of Child Immunization Among Nursing Mothers Questionnaire (KPCIANMQ)”
and was validated by experts in health education. The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability
coefficient score was 0.81. Data collected were analysed using frequencies and
percentages to analyse the bio-data, descriptive statistics of mean to answer the research
questions and Analysis of variance was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of
significance. The result revealed that, on the knowledge of child immunisation among
nursing mothers, respondents with tertiary education and secondary education had
higher overall mean scores of 4.00 each, primary education with 3.33, while no formal
education had 2.41. On the practice of child immunisation among nursing mothers,
respondents with tertiary education had higher overall mean scores of 3.99, secondary
education = 3.16, primary education = 2.55, while no formal education had the least
overall mean score of 1.48. The Analyses of variance also revealed that there is a
significant difference in knowledge [F3,194 = 85.79 P<0.05]; and practice [F3,194 =
46.70, P<0.05] of immunization among mothers based on level of education. Based on
the findings, the researchers concluded that; there is a significant difference in the level
of knowledge and practice of child immunisation among nursing mothers with respect to
their educational levels. The researchers recommended based on the conclusion that,
the government through the primary healthcare should implement targeted health
education on vaccination programmes specifically designed for antenatal patients with
low level of education. This will educate the expectant mothers to be equipped with the
knowledge and practice of child health care and immunisation after birth.