Factors affecting maternal attitude in receiving the Hepatitis B vaccine for their infants or children

Background and Objective: Hepatitis B is a viral infection that can cause severe complications, including damage to liver, cirrhosis, liver cancer and even death. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) (2016), globally, 240 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV). Hepatitis B can be prevented with a safe and effective hepatitis B vaccination, but the maternal attitude towards the safety of vaccination can affect their choice to get their infants vaccinated or not. Therefore, this literature review used a systematic approach to understand the factors affecting the maternal attitude towards getting hepatitis B vaccine for their infants or children.

Methods: This study searched scientific and biomedical databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, ProQuest and Web Science from 1990 to 2020 to identify relevant peer-reviewed articles. Grey literature on Hepatitis B was identified through accessing websites such as the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health, Australia.

Results: From a pool of 343 articles, 12 met the eligibility criteria. Evidence suggested that parents with higher knowledge of hepatitis B vaccine and high education level were more likely to receive the hepatitis B vaccine to their children. Parents with high education level showed higher access to immunization information than parents with lower education. Parents who seek the information on vaccination from the physician were in more favour of vaccinating their infants than the parent who searched the internet for hepatitis B vaccination information.

Conclusion: This study identified that a trustworthy source of information and vaccination safety awareness among parents is associated with increased hepatitis B vaccine uptake among infants. Health education during pregnancy and visit to physicians and proper communication between the health provider and parents can be useful to improve the immunization status among infants.