‘Transparency would be lovely’: differences in information seeking and assessing behaviours between vaccine hesitant and vaccine confident mothers of newborns
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47989/ir31ISIC65228Keywords:
information seeking behaviour, information assessing behaviour, vaccine hesitancy, information needs, health information needsAbstract
Introduction. While today’s vaccines have robust scientific evidence supporting broad distribution and use, many individuals experience concerns about vaccination, resulting in vaccine hesitancy. Many factors may contribute to vaccine hesitancy including lack of trust in vaccination recommendations, misinformation about vaccine safety and effectiveness, and social norms. This study explored the information seeking and assessment behaviours of new mothers regarding infant vaccination schedules.
Method. Participants were recruited within two communities identified for low vaccine uptake. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 mothers. Interview transcripts and researcher fieldnotes formed the data for analysis.
Analysis. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to qualitatively analyse interview transcripts, resulting in four overarching themes addressing the research questions.
Results. Vaccine hesitant mothers appear to have different information needs and subsequent information seeking and assessment behaviours compared to vaccine confident mothers in the same communities. Vaccine hesitant mothers reported consistently unmet vaccine-related information needs and described more intensive information seeking and triangulation practices because of these unmet needs.
Conclusion. Increased and creative vaccine communication opportunities are necessary to address vaccine hesitancy in target communities. Additionally, the relationship between mistrust and information seeking should be further explored, ideally in collaboration between information scientists and public health.
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