The Relationship between Mother's Education, Knowledge, and Occupation with the Completeness of Basic Immunization in Toddlers at the Bintuhan Community Health Center, Kaur Regency

Abstract

Background: This study analyzes the relationship between mother's education, knowledge, and occupation and the completeness of basic immunizations in toddlers at the Bintuhan Community Health Center in Kaur Regency. The background is the high infant mortality rate due to vaccine-preventable diseases—more than 1 million cases per year according to the WHO—and the continued lack of complete basic immunizations in Indonesia as mandated by Minister of Health Regulation No. 12/2017. Maternal sociodemographic factors are suspected to be important determinants of immunization completeness.

Method: The study used a cross-sectional analytic design with 59 mothers of toddlers aged 12-24 months, drawn using purposive sampling from a population of 143 toddlers. Data were collected through a primary questionnaire and analyzed using the chi-square test.

Results: he results showed no significant relationship between maternal education and completeness of immunizations (χ²=4.354; p=0.113). Conversely, there was a significant relationship between maternal knowledge (χ²=17.213; p=0.000) and maternal occupation (χ²=19.132; p=0.000) and immunization completeness. 88.5% of toddlers with mothers with good knowledge had their immunizations completed, while only 25% of toddlers with mothers with less knowledge had their immunizations completed. 86.1% of unemployed mothers had their immunizations completed, compared to only 26.1% of employed mothers.

Conclusion: Maternal knowledge and occupation significantly influence the completeness of basic immunizations for toddlers, while education was not found to be related. It is recommended that community health centers increase routine outreach and counseling on immunization, especially for working mothers.