Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine if a mailed patient education brochure (addressing demonstrated reasons for vaccination refusal) would result in a higher rate of influenza vaccination than a mailed postcard reminder without educational content. DESIGN: Randomized, controlled trial. SETTING: Urban, predominantly African-American, low-income community. PARTICIPANTS: There were 740 community-dwelling individuals aged 65 years and older in the study. MEASUREMENTS: Receipt of influenza vaccination and beliefs about influenza and influenza vaccination were measured by telephone survey self-report. MAIN RESULTS: We successfully contacted 202 individuals (69.9%) who received the postcard reminder and 229 individuals (71.1%) who received the educational brochure. People receiving the educational brochure were more likely to report influenza vaccination during the previous vaccination season than those who received the postcard reminder (66.4% vs 56.9%, p = .04). They also reported more interest in influenza vaccination in the coming year. (66.5% vs 57.1%, p = .05). CONCLUSIONS: A mailed educational brochure is more effective than a simple reminder in increasing influenza vaccination rates among inner- city, elderly patients.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 695-698 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Journal of general internal medicine |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 11 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1999 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Educational reminder
- Elderly
- Influenza
- Inner-city population
- Vaccination
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Internal Medicine