Deakin University HNN300: Child Health - Influenza Vaccination Report

This report addresses the critical topic of influenza vaccination in child and adolescent health, focusing on the concerns and hesitancy surrounding the vaccine. It begins by highlighting the importance of vaccination and the potential risks of influenza, particularly for infants and children. The report delves into the risks and benefits of the influenza vaccine, addressing common misconceptions and fears. It then explores the reasons behind parental refusal, examining factors such as religious beliefs, personal fears, and the need for reliable information. The report provides recommendations for promoting influenza vaccination, including both direct and indirect vaccination strategies. Furthermore, it outlines two effective communication strategies for nurses to engage parents in family-centered discussions, emphasizing open negotiation and the establishment of trust and respect. Ultimately, the report emphasizes the crucial role of nurses in providing evidence-based knowledge and fostering effective communication to ensure that parents make informed decisions about their children's health and well-being, particularly regarding influenza vaccination.

Running head: CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH
Child and Adolescent Health
Student’s Name and Number
Deakin University
Word Count:

CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH 2
Child and Adolescent Health
Abstract
The introduction part of the document highlights the needs of the influenza vaccination
and the fears of the parents who refuse to provide their infant ones the influenza vaccination. In
the next section, risks and benefits of influenza virus are discussed. The next part of this
document describes the refusal risks of the vaccination. The next two parts provide
recommendation for the influenza vaccination and the communication strategies which nurses
need to adopt for the family centered communication. The last part of this document concludes
the whole topic.
Introduction
Vaccination for the prevention of different diseases is an effective tool which is used in
the healthcare department for the different age groups. Influenza Virus is a dangerous kind of
virus and certain influenza vaccinations are in use at a large scale to prevent people from the bad
effects of this disease. But most of the people are reluctant and hesitant and most of the time they
refuse to get influenza vaccine due to certain kind of fears. The strategies are used at personal,
community, national and international level to help people know about the importance of this
vaccine by organizing them (Hussain, 2019). “Influenza Virus damages the general health of
people of all ages and kids are more prone to this (Rhoda, 2018). So, nurses must educate the
parents, especially mothers of the infants about the immunization and importance of influenza
vaccine and this could be done effectively by using effective communication strategies.”
Risks and Benefits of Influenza Vaccination
While Ashley thinks that she got flu because she had an influenza vaccination is just a false
notion because the body develops immunity against flu after one to two weeks of the

CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH 3
vaccination. So, she might have caught flu by chance. The influenza vaccination in pregnant
women is important and the risks of having these vaccinations include bacterial and viral
infections which give rise to other diseases as well and the risks of vaccine are far less than the
advantages because this vaccination prevents both the mother and the kid from the seasonal viral
infections and after the age of 6 months, direct vaccination should also be given to the kid
(Singh, et al., 2019). The risks may include mortality, morbidity and hospitalization of the
infants due to influenza virus. They may face severe attacks of other diseases in the presence of
this virus (Troeger, et al, 2019). The mothers who think that they can have a pregnancy
complication if they have any influenza vaccination, they are wrong. They must learn that they
are prone to seasonal flu and hence need protection from this virus for the safety of their health
and their kid as well and it is the responsibility of the healthcare professionals to give them
proper education on this topic (Rhoda, 2018). Research suggests that 175 deaths have been
reported during a flu season in 2017-18 and all those kids had viral attacks from flu. To avoid
this rate of deaths, parents, healthcare professionals and others members in the community must
understand their role to save the important lives of these kids who are vulnerable to high flu risk
due to lack of anti-virus vaccination (Lisa & Flor, 2018). So, the risks of not having a vaccine are
higher than developing fears about the vaccine.
Refusal Risks associated with Influenza Vaccination
The dependence for the acceptance and refusal of vaccination in the parents of the kids is
on the type of the vaccine. If they trust the vaccine, they go for it and if they do not trust a type
of vaccine, they want to save their kid from having that (Melissa B. Gilkey, 2016). A lot of
parents refuse to have a vaccination for their kids because of a few reasons. These reasons may
include religious behaviors, personal beliefs, fears, social learning and a wish to get authentic

CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH 4
information from someone in the health sector. Based on these reasons, they feel reluctant and do
not accept the reality that their kids might be vulnerable to diseases. These diseases may weaken
their immunization and they can develop multiple risks of diseases (Bohannon, 2016). All those
parents who do not trust vaccinations and are concerned about the safety and necessity of the
vaccinations, they need to learn about the vaccination and their importance and what damages
have been made when the parents in the past refused to have their kids vaccinated. The epidemic
grew and eaten up many kids. This is important to note that being hesitant does not mean that
parents will refuse to opt for vaccination (Eve Dubé, 2015). This can be a serious threat to the
lives of their kids and they need to remove their hesitancy about the vaccination because research
has suggested the ways to safe living and denial from scientific research is the evidence of the
little knowledge of the common man.
Recommendation regarding Influenza Vaccination
The effects of Influenza can deteriorate the health of the infants and their immunity to
fight with acute viruses may be less than required. So, they must be provided with the
vaccination. Ashley was afraid that Beth might have influenza after the vaccination because she
also had flu after the flu shots. Research shows that those women who take influenza vaccination
during their pregnancy develop more immunity and their child also remains safe from influenza
(Getahun, et al., 2019). So, Asley has a misconception that influenza vaccination causes flu and
virus attacks when someone takes vaccination. The influenza vaccine can be provided in an
indirect way to the kids before birth when the mothers are pregnant and the healthcare providers
give them influenza vaccination, antibodies are transferred to the body of the kid through the
placenta and after the birth, the immunity can also be transferred through breastfeeding (Flor &
Denise, 2019). Kids also need to be directly vaccinated for influenza because this vaccine saves

CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH 5
them from acute otitis media disease This is a bacterial infection which grows in the presence of
a viral infection. So, if kids are protected with the influenza vaccine, they will not have viral
infections and will avoid acute otitis media disease as well (Norhayati, Ho, & Azman, 2017). So,
it is recommended in the light of literature that both the direct and indirect forms of vaccination
are necessary for the infants to keep them safe from developing diseases.
Two Communication Strategies to promote family-centered Communication
Nurses should make effective communication with the help of those communication
strategies which can urge the parents to develop insights about the immunization process and
vaccination needs of their infants (Elizabeth Arnold, 2019). The two strategies that can be used
are open negotiation strategy and a respectful and trustful relationship with the parents.
First Strategy
In the first strategy, nurses should educate the parents of the kids about the importance of
vaccination and immunization. They must involve the parents in the discussion and should listen
to their fears and misperceptions about the vaccinations. If they speak about all their fears, a
nurse may guide them about the usefulness of the vaccination which can prevent their child from
having certain fatal diseases. This negotiation strategy will result in convincing the parents about
the importance and needs of the vaccine (Julia Dahlqvist, 2014). The information must be
complete in all regard and all the misperceptions about the vaccination, healthcare teams,
availability and the timing of the vaccination should be communicated in a friendly tome to those
parents who do not have proper knowledge (Ames, Glenton, & Lewin, 2017). To provide 100%
immunization awareness to the parents, this has become extremely important to communicate
openly with the parents because negotiations will help them to remove the fears which they have
developed about the vaccinations and they can save their kids from certain kinds of other

CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH 6
diseases. So, the effective communication strategy must be used to highlight the importance and
needs of immunization (Gupta, hassan, Agarwal, & Bhasin, 2019).
Second Strategy
In the second strategy, nurses must use a communication tool in which trust and respect
factors should be established. In the 20th century, immunization and vaccination have become
integral. Most of the parents are unwilling to accept the needed vaccination because they do not
realize the importance because of their little or no knowledge. So, the nurses must build
relationships of respect in which they can gain the trust of the parents and may educate them
through the pieces of evidence collected from the clinical studies (Anderson, 2015). Nurses will
be better able to convey the complete information if they have thorough understanding of the
timing and kind of vaccination, professional and clinical knowledge through which they can
demonstrate and can gain the trust of the parents and can also engage them in discussions on the
social media where different parents can share their experiences simultaneously and the nurses
can rectify them if they have any misunderstandings about the immunizations and all their
concerns can be satisfied with the prompt knowledge that nurses have and hence, they can
educate the parents by establishing trust and respect (Mossey & Shelly Hosman, 2019). Hence,
both the strategies can be used to inform and convince Ashley who can be willing to get
influenza vaccination for Beth, if the nurse treats her with respect and gives her full trust while
negotiating with her.
Conclusion
On the whole, it is assumed that influenza is a viral infection which can weaken the
immunity in the kids and the consequences may be severe. Parents must understand the dangers
of not having their kids vaccinated for influenza because a lot of parents are hesitant. Their

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hesitation may be transformed into positive action and they can be willing to make their kids safe
with the influenza vaccination. For this purpose, nurses need to help out the mothers by using
effective communication strategies and being open to listen and give respect to the parents. So,
they will make the right vaccination decisions for their kids. But the role or nurses is extremely
important to communicate effectively with the parents in this regard and to provide them
sufficient evidence-based knowledge which will help them to understand the immunization
needs for their kids’ safety.
References:

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