BARRIERS AND STRATEGIES FOR INCREASING IMMUNIZATION UPTAKE AMONG NURSING MOTHERS ATTENDING ANTENATAL CLINIC IN PUBLIC HOSPITALS IN ENUGU STATE

The study examined the barriers and practice of strategies for increasing immunization uptake among nursing mothers attending antenatal clinic in public hospitals in Enugu State. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population for the study consisted of five hundred and fifty two (552) nursing mothers in public hospitals in Enugu State. The sample for this study consisted of one hundred and sixty six (166) nursing mothers gotten through the use of Taro Yamene (1964) formula. Simple random sampling techniques was applied to get the sample for the study. A Structured questionnaire titled ‘Barriers and Practice of Strategies for Increasing Uptake of Immunization (BPSIUIQ) was the instrument for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts, two from the Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education and one from the Department of Science and Computer all from ESUT. The reliability of the instrument was established by employing Cronbach’s Alpha statistic which yielded .79 reliability index showing that the instrument was reliable. The researcher administered the questionnaires directly to the respondents with the help of three research assistants. Data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The finding of the study revealed among others that; that lack of awareness about the importance of immunization, cultural belief, inadequate information, financial constraints, poor vaccine supply and misinformation are barriers to increasing uptake of immunization among nursing mothers, the practice of strategies for increase in immunization uptake among nursing mothers attending immunization services in public hospital in Enugu State was to a low extent. It was concluded that a lot of factors pose problem to increasing uptake of immunization among nursing mothers and also the practice of strategies for increasing immunization uptake among nursing mothers attending immunization services in public hospital in Enugu State was to a low extent. It was recommended among others that government should organize workshop and seminar on immunization where its importance should be explained for the nursing mothers.