Improving Vaccine Knowledge Among Adolescents: A Pre-Post School-Based Educational Intervention in Southern Italy

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Immunology Education
• Adolescent Health

Background:

• Adolescent vaccination coverage remains below targets, necessitating improved vaccine knowledge.
• Existing knowledge gaps in adolescents concern vaccine mechanisms and recommended immunizations.
• Effective educational strategies are crucial for enhancing vaccine understanding in this age group.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess baseline vaccine and immune mechanism knowledge in adolescents.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based educational intervention on vaccination knowledge.
• To identify factors influencing post-intervention knowledge scores.

Main Methods:

• A prospective quasi-experimental pre-post study involving 386 adolescents (aged 14-19) in Southern Italy.
• Intervention utilized the e-Bug module with interactive lessons, gamification, and discussions led by trained nurses.
• Knowledge assessed via pre- and post-intervention questionnaires; data analyzed using paired t-tests and multivariate regression.

Main Results:

• Baseline knowledge gaps identified, particularly regarding recommended adolescent vaccines (37.4%) and innate immunity (25.6%).
• Significant improvement in correct answers post-intervention for 5 of 7 knowledge items (p < 0.001), notably on age-specific vaccines (61.2% increase).
• Higher pre-intervention scores, parental chronic conditions, paternal employment, and willingness to participate predicted higher post-intervention scores.

Conclusions:

• School-based educational interventions can effectively enhance adolescents' vaccination knowledge.
• The e-Bug module shows potential for improving understanding of vaccines and immunity.
• Further research with control groups and long-term follow-up is recommended to confirm sustained effectiveness.