Attitudes and Reactions of the Public to Health Programs

Abstract

Information on attitudes was secured in the summer of 1956 by interviews with mothers and mother substitutes and with randomly selected adults in 3628 households representative of the civilian, non-institutional population. Respondents with unfavorable attitudes tended to be of low socio-economic status. The educational level of unfavorable mothers was lower than for the favorable group. Attitudes were related to the respondent''s perception of opinions of his peer group and to his past experience with immunization procedures. Respondents'' action in seeking vaccination was generally consistent with their opinions. There is evidence that public attitudes and action are favorably influenced by an aggressive, consistent program jointly planned and cooperatively carried out by community agencies.