Exploring parents’ views of the use of narratives to promote childhood vaccination online
BACKGROUND: Negative information about vaccines that spreads online may contribute to parents’ vaccine hesitancy or refusal. Studies have shown that false claims about vaccines that use emotive personal narratives are more likely to be shared and engaged with on social media than factual evidence-ba...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Public Library of Science
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10355395/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37467300 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284107 |
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author | Dubé, Eve Trottier, Marie-Eve Gagnon, Dominique Bettinger, Julie A. Greyson, Devon Graham, Janice MacDonald, Noni E. MacDonald, Shannon E. Meyer, Samantha B. Witteman, Holly O. Driedger, S. Michelle |
author_facet | Dubé, Eve Trottier, Marie-Eve Gagnon, Dominique Bettinger, Julie A. Greyson, Devon Graham, Janice MacDonald, Noni E. MacDonald, Shannon E. Meyer, Samantha B. Witteman, Holly O. Driedger, S. Michelle |
author_sort | Dubé, Eve |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Negative information about vaccines that spreads online may contribute to parents’ vaccine hesitancy or refusal. Studies have shown that false claims about vaccines that use emotive personal narratives are more likely to be shared and engaged with on social media than factual evidence-based public health messages. The aim of this study was to explore parents’ views regarding the use of positive narratives to promote childhood vaccination. METHODS: We identified three ∼4-minute video narratives from social media that counter frequent parental concerns about childhood vaccination: parents and informed decision-making (online misinformation about vaccines); a paediatrician’s clinical experience with vaccine-preventable diseases (prevention of still existing diseases); and a mother’s experience with vaccine-preventable disease (risks of the disease). Focus group discussions were held with parents of children aged 0 to 5 years to assess their views on these three narratives and their general opinion on the use of narratives as a vaccine promotion intervention. RESULTS: Four focus groups discussions were virtually held with 15 parents in December 2021. In general, parents trusted both health care provider’s and parent’s narratives, but participants identified more with stories having a parent as the main character. Both narratives featuring personal stories with vaccine-preventable diseases were preferred by parents, while the story about informed decision-making was perceived as less influential. Parents expressed the need for reliable and nuanced information about vaccines and diseases and felt that a short video format featuring a story was an efficient vaccine promotion intervention. However, many mentioned that they generally are not watching such videos while navigating the Web. CONCLUSION: While vaccine-critical stories are widely shared online, evidence on how best public health could counter these messages remains scarce. The use of narratives to promote vaccination was well-perceived by parents. Future studies are needed to assess reach and impact of such an intervention. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10355395 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-103553952023-07-20 Exploring parents’ views of the use of narratives to promote childhood vaccination online Dubé, Eve Trottier, Marie-Eve Gagnon, Dominique Bettinger, Julie A. Greyson, Devon Graham, Janice MacDonald, Noni E. MacDonald, Shannon E. Meyer, Samantha B. Witteman, Holly O. Driedger, S. Michelle PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Negative information about vaccines that spreads online may contribute to parents’ vaccine hesitancy or refusal. Studies have shown that false claims about vaccines that use emotive personal narratives are more likely to be shared and engaged with on social media than factual evidence-based public health messages. The aim of this study was to explore parents’ views regarding the use of positive narratives to promote childhood vaccination. METHODS: We identified three ∼4-minute video narratives from social media that counter frequent parental concerns about childhood vaccination: parents and informed decision-making (online misinformation about vaccines); a paediatrician’s clinical experience with vaccine-preventable diseases (prevention of still existing diseases); and a mother’s experience with vaccine-preventable disease (risks of the disease). Focus group discussions were held with parents of children aged 0 to 5 years to assess their views on these three narratives and their general opinion on the use of narratives as a vaccine promotion intervention. RESULTS: Four focus groups discussions were virtually held with 15 parents in December 2021. In general, parents trusted both health care provider’s and parent’s narratives, but participants identified more with stories having a parent as the main character. Both narratives featuring personal stories with vaccine-preventable diseases were preferred by parents, while the story about informed decision-making was perceived as less influential. Parents expressed the need for reliable and nuanced information about vaccines and diseases and felt that a short video format featuring a story was an efficient vaccine promotion intervention. However, many mentioned that they generally are not watching such videos while navigating the Web. CONCLUSION: While vaccine-critical stories are widely shared online, evidence on how best public health could counter these messages remains scarce. The use of narratives to promote vaccination was well-perceived by parents. Future studies are needed to assess reach and impact of such an intervention. Public Library of Science 2023-07-19 /pmc/articles/PMC10355395/ /pubmed/37467300 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284107 Text en © 2023 Dubé et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Dubé, Eve Trottier, Marie-Eve Gagnon, Dominique Bettinger, Julie A. Greyson, Devon Graham, Janice MacDonald, Noni E. MacDonald, Shannon E. Meyer, Samantha B. Witteman, Holly O. Driedger, S. Michelle Exploring parents’ views of the use of narratives to promote childhood vaccination online |
title | Exploring parents’ views of the use of narratives to promote childhood vaccination online |
title_full | Exploring parents’ views of the use of narratives to promote childhood vaccination online |
title_fullStr | Exploring parents’ views of the use of narratives to promote childhood vaccination online |
title_full_unstemmed | Exploring parents’ views of the use of narratives to promote childhood vaccination online |
title_short | Exploring parents’ views of the use of narratives to promote childhood vaccination online |
title_sort | exploring parents’ views of the use of narratives to promote childhood vaccination online |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10355395/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37467300 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0284107 |
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