From Google Scholar & other sources: Selected Journal Articles, Newsletters, Dissertations, Theses, Commentary

Journal of Women’s Health, Issues & Care
2014, 3:6
Issues Care 2014, 3:6
http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2325-9795.1000170
[PDF] Nuances in Inoculation: Protecting Positive Attitudes toward the HPV Vaccine & the Practice of Vaccinating Children
Norman C. H. Wong1* and Kylie J. Harrison2
Abstract
This study examined the use of two different inoculation messages in conferring resistance to persuasive messages attacking vaccinations. A three-phase experiment involving 212 participants was conducted to determine if young women who held positive attitudes toward the HPV vaccine/practice of vaccinating children could be inoculated against messages attacking the HPV vaccine/practice of vaccinating children. Results found that inoculation treatments aimed at protecting positive attitudes toward the practice of vaccinations in general were as effective at thwarting attacks on the HPV vaccine as the use of inoculation treatments aimed directly at protecting positive attitudes about the HPV vaccine itself. In addition to traditional inoculation outcomes (e.g., attitudes, counterarguing), the results revealed that inoculation treatments also had an impact on other outcomes as well (e.g., perceived vaccine safety, behavioral intentions).
Journal of School Health
Vol 85 Issue 2
School Nurses’ Knowledge, Attitudes, Perceptions of Role as Opinion Leader, and Professional Practice Regarding Human Papillomavirus Vaccine for Youth
Brittany L. Rosen PhD, CHES Assistant Professor1,*, Patricia Goodson PhD Professor2, Bruce Thompson PhD Distinguished Professor3 andKelly L. Wilson PhD, CHES Associate Professor4
Article first published online: 7 JAN 2015
DOI: 10.1111/josh.12229
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND
Because human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine rates remain low, we evaluated US school nurses’ knowledge, attitudes, perceptions of their role as opinion leaders, and professional practice regarding HPV vaccine, and assessed whether knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of being an opinion leader influenced their professional practice regarding the HPV vaccine.
METHODS
We used a cross-sectional design by recruiting members from the National Association of School Nurses. All participants (N = 505) were e-mailed a survey designed for this study. Structural equation modeling (SEM) tested direct and indirect effects.
RESULTS
Overall, school nurses had knowledge about HPV and the vaccine, and positive attitudes toward the vaccine. They had less-than-enthusiastic perceptions of their role as opinion leaders regarding the vaccine and implemented few activities related to providing vaccine information. The model revealed a good fit (χ2 = 20.238 [df = 8, p < .01]), with knowledge directly related to attitudes, attitudes directly related to perceptions and practice, and perceptions directly affecting practice. In our model, perceptions functioned as a partial mediator.
CONCLUSIONS
To enhance school nurses’ practice regarding the HPV vaccine, focus should be on increasing positive attitudes toward the vaccine and strengthening perceptions of their role as opinion leaders
Materia Socio Medica
2014; 26(6): 382-384
doi: 10.5455/msm.2014.26.382-384
[PDF] The Impact of War on Vaccine Preventable Diseases
Zarema Obradovic, Snjezana Balta, Amina Obradovic, Salih Mesic.
Abstract
Introduction: During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which lasted from 1992-1995, the functioning of all sectors was disturbed, including the health sector. The priority of the heath sector was treatment and less attention was paid to prevention, and this applies also to the program of implementation of obligatory immunization, as one of the most important prevention measures. This program was conducted with difficulty and sometimes was completely interrupted because of the lack of necessary vaccines and the inability of adequate maintenance of the cold chain. It was difficult and sometimes completely impossible to bring children to vaccination. Because of these problems, a great number of children stayed unvaccinated so they suffered from vaccine-preventable diseases several years after the war.
Materials and methods: This is a retrospective epidemiological study. We analyzed data from January 1994 to July 2014 in Canton Sarajevo, and data about measles outbreak in 2014.
Results: In the period from January 1994 to July 2014, 3897 vaccine-preventable diseases were registered in Canton Sarajevo. Among them measles, rubella and mumps were the most frequent. In March 2014, measles outbreak was registered. Almost all cases are unvaccinated (99%) and 43% of all cases are connected with failure of vaccination during the war.
Conclusion: During the war, routine immunization program was disrupted in Bosnia and Herzegovina (also in Canton Sarajevo). The consequences are presented as vaccine preventable diseases cases.
Applied and Environmental Microbiology
January 2015, volume 81, issue 2
Environmental Surveillance of Poliovirus in Sewage Water around the Introduction Period of Inactivated Polio Vaccine in Japan
Tomofumi Nakamura1,2, Mitsuhiro Hamasaki2, Hideaki Yoshitomi2, Tetsuya Ishibashi2, Chiharu Yoshiyama2, Eriko Maeda2, Nobuyuki Sera2* and Hiromu Yoshida1
ABSTRACT
Environmental virus surveillance was conducted at two independent sewage plants from urban and rural areas in the northern prefecture of the Kyushu district, Japan, to trace the polioviruses (PVs) within communities. Consequently, 83 PVs were isolated over a 34-month period from April 2010 to January 2013. The frequency of PV isolation at the urban plant was 1.5-times higher than that at the rural plant. Molecular sequence analysis of the viral VP1 gene identified all three serotypes among the PV isolates the most prevalent serotype being type 2 (46%). Nearly all poliovirus isolates exhibited more than one nucleotide mutation from the Sabin vaccine strains. During this study, inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) was introduced for routine immunization on September 1, 2012, replacing the live oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). Interestingly, the frequency of PV isolation from sewage waters declined before OPV cessation at both sites. Our study highlights the importance of environmental surveillance to detect the excretion of PVs from an OPV-immunized population in a highly sensitive manner, during the OPV to IPV transition period.