Improving family physicians’ knowledge and practices on non-routine childhood vaccines (meningococcal, rotavirus, HPV): a two-phase intervention study from primary care in Türkiye

Introduction In Türkiye, meningococcal, rotavirus, and HPV vaccines are not included in the national schedule. We aimed to assess whether a face-to-face educational intervention could improve physicians’ knowledge about these vaccines and influence their subsequent counselling and recommendation practices. Methods We used a two-phase intervention with pre/post assessment and a 4–6-week follow-up among family physicians. In Phase 1, participants received an in-person training on meningococcal, rotavirus, and HPV vaccines, and their knowledge was evaluated using identical true/false tests administered before and after the session. Phase 2, conducted 4–6 weeks later, measured changes in physicians’ self-reported frequency of providing recommendations about these vaccines, and whether they or their first-degree relatives had received any of the vaccines after the training. Differences in paired proportions were analyzed using McNemar’s test (p < 0.05). Results Ninety-one physicians completed Phase-1; 70 from the same cohort completed Phase-2. After training, correct responses increased across multiple items: e.g., “Rotavirus vaccine is live” 89.0%→100% (p = 0.002); “Only humans are reservoir for meningococcal infection” 50.6%→96.7% (p < 0.001); “Meningococcal vaccine cannot be co-administered” (false) 70.3%→96.7% (p < 0.001). Phase-2 showed more proactive practice: for HPV, 52.9% reported recommending “upon family request” and 27.1% “at every visit”; for rotavirus these were 37.1% and 35.7%, respectively. Overall, 52.9% reported having administered one of the three vaccines to themselves or first-degree relatives after training; 62.2% rated the training’s influence on that decision as 10/10. Conclusion A targeted educational session produced meaningful gains in vaccine knowledge and was associated with more frequent counselling/recommendation behaviours in primary care.