Practice ForumUnderstanding influenza vaccination attitudes at a Canadian cancer center
Section snippets
Methods
The Tom Baker Cancer Center, a publicly funded, tertiary-level, ambulatory cancer treatment center located in Calgary, Canada, provides comprehensive cancer care for approximately 1.5 million residents of southern Alberta, southwestern Saskatchewan, and southern British Columbia and receives approximately 125,000 outpatient visits per year. The center has 25 departments and 515 employees, and its services include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, stem cell transplantation, education, and research.
Results
Of 515 questionnaires distributed to the cancer center departments, 363 were completed and returned, yielding a response rate of 70%. The staff age distribution (n = 350) was as follows: 18 to 25 years, 7%; 26 to 39 years, 39%; 40 to 49 years, 31%; and 50 years or greater, 23%. The occupational groups represented (n = 337) were as follows: allied health professionals, 28%; support staff, 26%; nurse/nursing trainee, 19%; physician/medical trainee, 5%; others, 20%. Forty-seven percent of respondents
Discussion
Social marketing is defined as “[T]he application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution, and evaluation of programs designed to influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences in order to improve their personal welfare and that of their society.”12 Social marketing is a “customer-driven” activity that seeks to apply intimate knowledge of customer perceptions and preferences to the design of attractive social welfare exchanges that entice the customer to
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