Infection Prevention 2012

Hygiene behaviour. Knowledge of infection control. Vaccination behaviour.

Topics: Self-assessment of health status; taking care of one´s own health; opinion on the development of allergies through frequent hand washing; personal hygiene behaviour: Frequency of hand washing per day; duration of hand washing; use of soap or washing lotion when washing hands; frequency of hand washing between fingers and drying hands; hand washing with warm or cold water; regular use of hand disinfectants or only in certain situations; reasons for using such hand disinfectants; frequency of hand washing in selected situations (before eating, after touching animals, after shaking hands, before preparing food, when returning home, after using the toilet, after blowing nose or coughing into hand, after contact with flu or gastrointestinal patients, before visiting people in poor health); awareness of information sticker on correct hand washing procedure; own behaviour when sneezing or coughing (into the hand held out, into the crook of the elbow or sleeve, into a handkerchief, minimum distance from others); assessment of coughing or sneezing into a handkerchief and into the crook of the elbow or sleeve as effective protection against infection; frequency of use of a paper handkerchief before throwing it away; assessment of the risk of infection with certain diseases by touching the face with the hands; effective protection against infection by refraining from greetings close to the body; conscious refraining from greetings close to the body during the 2009 swine flu; own willingness to consciously refrain from greetings close to the body in the event of a renewed wave of illness; knowledge test: Wearing a face mask as an effective way of protecting oneself or others from infection; willingness to wear such a face mask in the event of a wave of illness; regular ventilation as an effective means of reducing pathogens in the room air; employment status; work in the medical field; chronic illness; hygiene behaviour in the household in the event of an infectious illness of a household member (spatial separation of the sick person, use of crockery and cutlery used by the sick person only after rinsing by other household members, cleaning or disinfection of surfaces, 60 degree washing of clothing and household laundry). perceived threat of EHEC in the last year; knowledge of ways to protect against EHEC; knowledge test regarding the range of use (pathogens) of antibiotics; interest in information on infection protection; importance of adult vaccination protection for selected diseases (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, polio, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, meningococcal, seasonal influenza, pneumococcal and HPV (women only); vaccination in the last five years; advice or reference to vaccination received and guidebook; reception of vaccination information in the media; reasons for vaccination: Avoiding risk to easily contagious persons, occupationally required or prescribed, due to travel; diseases vaccinated against; vaccination against measles as an adult before 2007 or previous vaccination against seasonal influenza (non-vaccinated); knowledge test of the publisher of the official vaccination recommendations in Germany (Federal Ministry of Health and its specialised authorities, pharmaceutical industry, health insurance companies or a commission of independent experts); reliance on vaccination recommendations according to the latest medical knowledge; knowledge of the vaccination recommendation against whooping cough; knowledge of the vaccination recommendation against measles for adults born after 1970; knowledge of the vaccination recommendation against pneumococcus for people over 60 (only to respondents aged 55 and over); measles disease in childhood or as an adult, or effective protection against infection through measles vaccination in childhood or adolescence; planned measles vaccination in the next year; reasons for lack of measles vaccination protection; knowledge of the diseases against which booster vaccinations are required in adulthood for effective protection against infection; knowledge of the time interval between booster vaccinations for each disease mentioned; vaccination passport owner; place of storage of vaccination passport known; vaccination recommendation or indication of booster vaccination by a doctor in the last year; not vaccinated; reasons for not vaccinated; self-assessment of informedness about adult vaccination; general interest in information about adult vaccination; advice on this topic in the last two years and advisor (e.g. doctor, pharmacist, public health department, health insurance company, etc.); specialisation of the advising doctor (general medicine, internal medicine, gynaecologist, paediatrician, travel medicine, company doctor or other specialisation); interest in additional information on the topics: Side effects and health risks, mode of action of the vaccine against infection, duration of vaccination protection for the individual vaccinations, vaccination recommendations of the Standing Commission on Vaccination, new developments in vaccines, cost coverage by health insurance funds or the employer; suitable sources of information for information on vaccinations and hygiene measures (Internet sites, personal discussions with a doctor or health professional, information brochures or leaflets, newspapers or magazines, television programmes, information events in schools or kindergartens, discussions with friends or family members, information from state and local health authorities, information from state and federal authorities, pharmaceutical manufacturers, health authorities, health insurance companies and social networks); website www.impfen-info.de visited and frequency of visits to this website in the last year; awareness of the information campaigns of the Federal Centre for Health Education on the topic ´Wir kommen der Grippe zuvor´, the brochure ´Impfschutz für die ganze Familie. 20 Fragen - 20 Antworten’ as well as the brochure and posters on measles-mumps-rubella vaccination (advertising effectiveness check); attitude towards vaccination; pets in the household.

Respondents belonging to a risk group (chronically ill and/or 59 plus and/or medical staff) were asked: knowledge of the vaccination schedule for effective flu protection; reasons against regular flu vaccination; planned flu vaccination next autumn; knowledge of flu vaccine with booster for seniors; preference for flu vaccine with booster or without booster; knowledge of flu vaccination recommendation for medical staff, for over 60s and chronically ill.

Only to women up to 45 years of age: existing pregnancy; desire to have children as reason for vaccination against measles, whooping cough, influenza or chicken pox in the last five years; knowledge of vaccination recommendation for influenza vaccination for pregnant women; pregnancy as reason for not having been vaccinated.

Demography: household size; number of children in the household under 16 and age of these children (year of birth); sex and age (year of birth) of the respondent; highest school or university degree, intended school degree (if student); country of birth; nationality; year of moving to Germany; country of birth and nationality of parents (migration background).

Additionally coded: Survey period (start and end, year of data collection); number of landline telephone numbers in the household; number of private mobile telephone numbers; willingness to be interviewed again; network type; sample (representative survey or increase pregnant women); interview location (mobile telephone); interview number; official municipality code (reduced: federal state level); weighting factor.