Promote immunization among high school students: the school-based project “VacciniAmo le Scuole”

The Italian vaccination calendar recommends some vaccinations to adolescents, which often represent a difficult target for immunization campaigns. Without adequate health education they could remain unaware or be misinformed and miss their opportunity. The “VacciniAmo le Scuole” project (“let's vaccinate the School”) aimed at evaluating and enhancing students’ knowledge and attitudes regarding vaccine-preventable diseases. Students of 4 Italian secondary schools fulfilled a questionnaire before and after they attended a health promotion intervention (“vaccination day”) carried out by public health specialists, coming from both University and Local Health Authorities (LHA). Each class received a 90 minutes intervention that was divided into a first theoretical part and a second one more practical (using role-play). Later, each LHA arranged to receive students in their surgery to carry out recommended vaccinations or give specific information (“Vaccine day”). 22 vaccination days involving 680 pupils were carried out. Students showed a significant mean improvement in their knowledge of vaccinations (mean pre-post difference = 2.9±0.2, p < 0.01) and a small but significant step towards the maximum self-perceived importance of vaccination (mean pre-post difference = 0.4±0.2, p < 0.01). Few students (5%) participated in one of the 13 Vaccine days, but within 6 months since the “vaccination day” 178 of the involved students went to their ASL to get vaccines or information. The study highlights a significant amelioration in students’ knowledge and attitude towards vaccine-preventable diseases. Considering the importance of informing and educating, especially in this field, role-play could represent an excellent and innovative way of imparting the best knowledge available to young students. The responsiveness to the dedicated Vaccine days has been below the expectations. Key messages: Our results suggest that role-play can be a successful teaching method in secondary schools enabling students to practise through simulation what they have learned The vaccine supply out of the school context could have limited the efficacy of the intervention. Better results could be reach offering the vaccination in school facilities