Is trust enough? Parents’ health information behaviour around childhood vaccination
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47989/ir31ISIC65227Keywords:
cognitive authority, epistemic trust, health information behaviour; parents, childhood vaccinationAbstract
Introduction. This study explores parents’ information behaviour in the context of childhood vaccination, focusing on source selection and on the role and formation of epistemic trust. It applies two frameworks to analyse the results: the elaboration likelihood model of persuasion (ELM) and the behavioural and social drivers of vaccination (BeSD) framework.
Method. In-depth individual interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 25 respondents. Sampling (Polish/Ukrainian and vaccine-hesitant/supportive) aimed to maximise variation across these groups, and data collection proceeded until thematic saturation was reached.
Analysis. The study used iterative analytic cycles: (1) inductive coding and (2) an explanatory, framework-based mapping of inductively derived categories onto the ELM and BeSD of vaccination domains to deepen understanding of information behaviour patterns.
Results. Parents’ accounts allow the distinction between central and peripheral information seeking, as well as the phenomenon of information source proximity creation. They also indicate which behavioural and social drivers are salient in shaping information behaviour.
Conclusions. Viewing information seeking as a continuum with endpoints of systematic and heuristic processing captures parents’ behaviour well. For the creation of information source proximity, epistemic trust is necessary but not sufficient; closeness—understood as both immediate accessibility and an emotional bond that includes understanding—is also required.
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