Substantial progress has been made nationally in the President's Childhood Immunization Initiative that aimed at achieving a goal of 90% immunization coverage level by the year 2000 (1,2). This goal, however, still eludes many of the African-American communities particularly in inner-city, low income area where rates as low as 51% in some urban areas. To identify barriers to achieving high coverage, providers, physicians, and administrators representing a wide variety of practices, both public and private in two predominantly African-American communities participated in three focus group sessions. Results of these focus groups and a pen and paper survey suggested that only 47% remind or recall parents about appointments. Barriers identified by providers include large number of parents hopping from one provider to another, failure to keep appointments, and failure to keep up with immunization records. These findings were then compared to findings from four focus groups held with parents representing the same population. Focus group findings suggest a need for provider training in several areas including strategies for reducing professional errors (false contraindications, failure to use simultaneous vaccine administration), and tracking, and reminder/recall. Following the focus groups a provider training conference targeting providers working in African-American communities was conducted. The training was designed to engage providers in dialogue around focus group recommendations, address cultural sensitivity issues, and importance and value of implementing reminder recall systems. This presentation will explain the role of assessment in planning provider training and also will include a summary of the provider evaluations of the training conference.
Learning Objectives: Participants will: 1. Gain an understanding of the use of focus groups and short surveys to identify training needs of providers; 2. Identify barriers and critical concerns of parents and the providers that serve them; 3. Gain knowledge of training strategies appropriate for planning and carrying out professional education interventions
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Chicago Department of Public Health
Chicago Area Immunization Campaign
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
University of Illinois School of Public Health
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: employment