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Emphasis on danger of preventable diseases eases vaccine hesitancy
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Physicians highlighting the danger and potential harm related to vaccine-preventable diseases are more likely to change parents’ attitudes on vaccine safety than physicians who focus too heavily on refuting vaccination safety myths, according to a recent study.
“We found that directing people’s attention to the risks posed by not getting vaccinated, like getting measles, mumps and rubella and the complications associated with those diseases, changed people’s attitudes positively toward vaccination — and that was for even the most skeptical participants in the study,” researcher Zachary Horne, PhD, of the department of psychology at the University of Illinois, said in a press release. “Actually, the largest effect sizes were for people who were the most skeptical.”
John E. Hummel
Horne and colleagues developed a five-item scale to determine participants’ views on vaccines and to predict whether they were likely to oppose or support future vaccinations for their children. The researchers administered the survey to a large cohort (n = 811) to gauge their views on vaccines before any interventions were introduced. The next day, 315 participants who returned to complete the test were split into three groups: one received an intervention focusing on vaccine safety myths related to autism, another received information about the dangers of vaccine-preventable diseases, and a control group received information unrelated to vaccines.
Results showed that exposure to the intervention focusing on disease risk led to a change in vaccination attitudes, more so than the control and safety myths intervention groups. The researchers also wrote that the safety myths intervention, which simulated physician advice that combated the beliefs of anti-vaccination supporters, had no effect on the participants’ attitudes toward vaccination.
“We succeeded in altering people’s vaccination attitudes by drawing attention to the consequences of not vaccinating their children,” researcher John E. Hummel, PhD, of the department of psychology at the University of Illinois, and colleagues wrote. “It is often easier to replace an existing belief with an alternative belief rather than attempting to directly counter it.” – by David Costill
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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