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PROS Reducing Immunization Disparities Study AIMS |
The idea for the Reducing Immunization Disparities Study (RIDS) came out of
the first PROS/National Medical Association study on immunizations in young
children. For this project, we collected immunization data on 13,520 children,
8-35 months old, from 47 states. A total of 2151 African American (AA) children
were enrolled in this study. Like other researchers, we found that AA children
were less likely to have received all of their recommended immunizations at
8 months of age than non-AA children (68.4% and 81.5%, respectively). Initially,
it was thought that much of this difference was due to differences in socioeconomic
status. However, we collected information on the educational level on the
mothers of study children, and used maternal educational level to measure
socioeconomic status. Even after adjusting for differences in educational
levels, AA children were still less likely to be fully immunized than children
of other races or ethnic groups.
The goal of phase 1 is to develop hypotheses to explain the observed disparity
in immunization rates between AA and other children. These hypotheses should
be consistent with the results of the first immunization study. To develop
hypotheses, focus groups of parents of African American children cared for
by PROS and NMA PedsNet pediatricians were held in four locations. At these
sites focus groups of practice staffs were also conducted. Finally "focus
groups" of PROS coordinators and NMA PedsNet steering committee members
were also conducted.
Phase 2: The next step is Intervention Design. The design of the intervention
takes the hypotheses generated in the first phase and designs office-based
interventions to address them.
For Phase 3: The immunization status of children who are patients of the participating
practitioner will be determined by abstracting vaccination data from a sample
of 60 children, 3-18 months old, seen consecutively in the office. In each
practice an immunization survey will be done immediately before, and 1 year
after, the interventions are implemented. Practices assigned to the "intervention"
group will receive 5 interventions for one-year of practice-wide implementation.
"Control" practices will complete the two immunization surveys,
one year apart. 30 practices need to complete the assessments (and interventions,
as assigned) to meet the study goal.
| Core support for the PROS network is provided by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau |  |
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