Cent Eur J Public Health 2023, 31(2):103-109 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a7508

Vaccine-hesitant families are more susceptible to verbal communication messaging

Vitalija Svist¹, Agne Maciuleviciene¹, Simona Naudziunaite¹, Sigita Petraitiene², Stefano del Torso³, Zachi Grossman^{4, 5}, Ginreta Magelinskiene⁶, Arunas Valiulis^{2, 6}

¹ Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

² Clinic of Children's Diseases, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

³ European Academy of Paediatrics, Brussels, Belgium

⁴ Sheldon School of Medicine, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel

⁵ Maccabi Health Services, Tel Aviv, Israel

⁶ Department of Public Health, Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

Objectives: Our survey aims to highlight parents' and healthcare workers' opinions and hesitations regarding children's vaccination, identify the main factors influencing these opinions, and assess the impact of hesitations on immunisation for children, included in the National Immunisation Programme in Lithuania.

Methods: We used the questionnaire developed by the European Academy of Paediatrics Research in Ambulatory Settings Network (EAPRASnet). This questionnaire is designed to assess attitudes toward vaccination. The study involved parents raising children aged 1-4 years and primary healthcare providers (paediatricians, family doctors and nurses).

Results: We analysed the completed questionnaires from a total of 329 parents (142 fathers, 187 mothers) and 386 medical personnel (150 physicians, 236 nurses). Most parents expressed positive opinions about vaccines (> 8 points out of 10 possible), with older parents exhibiting more favourable attitudes. Compared to mothers, fathers showed more criticism regarding the information provided by physicians (p = 0.04). Family doctors and paediatricians were more supportive of vaccination than nurses and homoeopaths (p < 0.001). Parents and healthcare providers with higher education showed statistically significantly stronger opinions about the benefits of vaccines than those with lower education levels (p = 0.01 for parents, p < 0.001 for physicians and nurses). The Internet was identified as the primary source of negative information for both parents (69.6%) and healthcare providers (86%). However, verbal information received from medical staff during patient consultations or informal conversations among colleagues had the greatest impact on parents' opinions (17.3%) and medical personnel (35.5%).

Conclusions: Confidential conversations with physicians and nurses remain the most trustworthy sources of information and influential factors shaping opinions. The Internet serves as the primary source of inaccurate information about vaccinations for both parents and medical professionals, although verbal information from primary healthcare providers has a more significant impact on vaccination attitudes. Discrepancies in basic education and specific knowledge about vaccination within the same family can pose additional obstacles to child vaccination.

Keywords: vaccines, vaccination rate, children, parents, primary health care, EAPRASnet, Lithuania

Received: June 24, 2022; Revised: June 16, 2023; Accepted: June 16, 2023; Published: June 30, 2023  Show citation