OBJECTIVE: To measure how the vaccination coverage of the Gypsy child population in the Cartuja and Almanjayar quarters evolved throughout a Health Education Intervention using Community Health workers belonging to the Gypsy community. DESIGN: A descriptive study, pre-test/post-test, with no control group. SETTING: Community level. Primary Care. PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS: The whole of the Gypsy child population under 14, consisting of 1,073 children, and four Community Health workers. INTERVENTIONS: Health Education for mothers and carers, by means of home visits carried out by four Health workers, previously trained and contracted for this purpose for a year by the Andalusian School of Public Health. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We measured the Vaccination Coverage in September 1988 (42.2%) in order to establish the situation both at the start of the intervention in March 1990 (46.2%) and at its end in March 1991 (68.2%). We measured Vaccination Coverage of the different vaccine doses through frequency allocations. CONCLUSIONS: The Health Centre increased Vaccination Coverage by 4% in 18 months. The intervention increased it by 22.2% in 12 months. This demonstrates the intervention's effectiveness and underlines the importance of carrying out this kind of intervention when working with at-risk population groups.
OBJECTIVE: To measure how the vaccination coverage of the Gypsy child population in the Cartuja and Almanjayar quarters evolved throughout a Health Education Intervention using Community Health workers belonging to the Gypsy community. DESIGN: A descriptive study, pre-test/post-test, with no control group. SETTING: Community level. Primary Care. PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS: The whole of the Gypsy child population under 14, consisting of 1,073 children, and four Community Health workers. INTERVENTIONS: Health Education for mothers and carers, by means of home visits carried out by four Health workers, previously trained and contracted for this purpose for a year by the Andalusian School of Public Health. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We measured the Vaccination Coverage in September 1988 (42.2%) in order to establish the situation both at the start of the intervention in March 1990 (46.2%) and at its end in March 1991 (68.2%). We measured Vaccination Coverage of the different vaccine doses through frequency allocations. CONCLUSIONS: The Health Centre increased Vaccination Coverage by 4% in 18 months. The intervention increased it by 22.2% in 12 months. This demonstrates the intervention's effectiveness and underlines the importance of carrying out this kind of intervention when working with at-risk population groups.
Authors: F Martínez-Campillo García; A Maura da Fonseca; J Santiago Oliva; M Verdú Pérez; A Serramia del Prisco; M Ibáñez Molina; P Martínez Miralles; M V Rigo Medrano Journal: Aten Primaria Date: 2003-03-15 Impact factor: 1.137