A young Maltese pharmacy student, Maria Galea, and the subject of vaccinations came together to successfully allow her to develop www.tilqim.info, a website launched earlier this month as part of her thesis and the final step towards a Master of Pharmacy degree. Born from an idea that germinated during Maria's second year at university, the decision to work on a research project was coupled by a desire to produce something that would be useful in the years to come, beyond her own time at university.

Maria says: "Apart from being a healthcare professional, a doting aunt and aspiring to motherhood in the future, I have always had a special interest in topics related to children's health and well-being - hence my decision to create a project related to children. I wanted to research parents' attitudes towards - and knowledge of - vaccination. The outcome helped me to develop a much-needed and useful information resource which, albeit involving a lot of hard work, ticked all the right boxes."

Whilst appreciative of the fact that parents want to make the very best decisions to protect their children's health, Maria knows full well that important decisions, such as those relating to a vaccination programme, may not be very straightforward or easy. "While I can accept that some parents decide not to give certain vaccines to their children (even though I may not agree with them), I find it unacceptable and unfair that a child misses a possibly life-saving vaccination simply because the parents do not know that a vaccine exists! That is why I aimed to produce an informative, medically sound information resource, presented in a way that is easy to understand and simple to use.

"The results of my fieldwork were based on feedback garnered from 270 parents who completed a questionnaire I designed to assess parental knowledge, perception and attitudes on vaccination. I clearly remember an episode where I asked a mother whether she had vaccinated her son against meningitis. She was shocked and almost reduced to tears when she realised she could have protected her son from such a terrible disease, and didn't do so simply because she didn't know the vaccine exists!

"This reinforced my belief in the usefulness of my project and inspired me to keep going. Today, www.tilqim.info supplies information on vaccine-preventable illnesses, their severity, transmission, symptoms and consequences in a concise yet understandable format. It also includes information on vaccinations that are available through the National Health Service and those offered only on the private market. Only reliable references have been used and on the website references are listed so that they can be accessed by a simple click. Parents can then discuss their children's vaccination programme with their family doctor.

"In its entirety, the project had the following aims:

• To assess the attitudes and knowledge of parents regarding childhood vaccinations, vaccine-preventable illnesses and the cost;
• To identify any misconceptions among parents and the need for further information;
• To provide parents with accessible, medically-sound information that can help them make an informed decision.

The following are some of the most striking findings of the project:

• The main reason why vaccinations against certain illnesses are not given is because parents do not know that a specific vaccination exists.
• Parents do not feel sufficiently knowledgeable about illnesses that can be prevented by vaccine.
• Parents feel the need for more information. The paediatrician and the family doctor are the two people to whom parents refer most when making important decisions on their children's vaccination programme. When it comes to further sources of information, the internet is the most preferred.

 

Apart from designing and validating a questionnaire, having it completed by parents and carrying out adequate research to develop the website, Maria needed to have all the content validated by a panel of experts - all while juggling time for full-time lectures, an Erasmus experience abroad, a 36-hour week placement in a community pharmacy during the final year, exams, etc. She admits that she definitely worried whether she had bitten off more than she could chew.

"I was also concerned about the response of parents and healthcare professionals to the website. However, I always believed in the project and was fully aware of its potential. Thankfully, I have had a supportive group of people, especially my father, who believed in the project from the start and who were extremely encouraging and motivating. Now, after so many years of hard work, I am very satisfied and excited to see it on-line. Although newly launched, the website has already received overwhelming positive feedback from prominent healthcare professionals and parents alike."