© 2004 American Public Health Association
Matthew W. Kreuter and Charlene A. Caburnay are with the Health Communication Research Laboratory, Division of Behavioral Science and Health Education, Department of Community Health, School of Public Health, Saint Louis University, St Louis, Mo. John J. Chen is with the Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY. Maureen J. Donlin is with the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, Saint Louis University. Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Matthew W. Kreuter, PhD, MPH, Health Communication Research Laboratory, School of Public Health, Saint Louis University, 3545 Lafayette Ave, Room 429, St Louis, MO 63104 (e-mail: kreuter{at}slu.edu).
Objectives. We examined the effectiveness of tailored calendars in increasing childhood immunization rates. Methods. Parents of babies aged birth to 1 year (n = 321) received individually tailored calendars promoting immunization from 2 urban public health centers. For each baby, an age- and sex-matched control was selected from the same center. Immunization status was tracked through age 24 months. Results. A higher proportion of intervention than of control babies were up to date at the end of a 9-month enrollment period (82% vs 65%, P < .001) and at age 24 months (66% vs 47%, P < .001). The younger the babys age at enrollment in the program, the greater was the intervention effect. Conclusions. Tailored immunization calendars can help increase child immunization rates. This article has been cited by other articles:
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