Vaccine Information Sources and Parental Trust in Their Child’s Health Care Provider

Abstract

Background. Parental trust in their child’s health care provider and the number and type of vaccine information sources are important dimensions of vaccine hesitancy and may suggest intervention components for future research. Method. We conducted secondary analysis of survey data from mothers of healthy newborns in Washington State, and examined the association between parental trust in their child’s health care provider and vaccine information sources. Results. We found that mothers with less trust in their child’s health care provider used more sources, more informal sources, and were less likely to consider their child’s pediatrician their main source of vaccine information compared with more trusting mothers. However, less trusting mothers did not report more effort to read or watch stories about vaccines than more trusting mothers, nor were they more likely to report the internet as their main vaccine information source. Conclusions. Future interventions seeking to reduce parental vaccine hesitancy should consider intervention components focused on building or improving parent trust in their child’s health care provider.

Acceptability of a hypothetical preventative HIV vaccine among people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada

“…This is consistent with other studies that report that positive relationships between PWUD and health care providers lead to better health outcomes [41,42]. This is also consistent with previous childhood vaccination research demonstrating that trust in health care providers is a key factor in parents' decisions to vaccinate their children, and that this relationship is an important site of intervention in increasing vaccination uptake [43,44]. While doctors may influence decisions by PWUD to be vaccinated, most of our participants described a conversation with their doctor as part of their decision making around uptake of a licensed HIV vaccine.…”

Parental Online Information Access and Childhood Vaccination Decisions in North America: Scoping Review

“…One of the most prevalent themes identified throughout the literature was one of information seeking; 50% (17/34) of articles discussed this theme [ 18 , 19 , 25 - 39 ]. Parents are looking online for vaccination information [ 18 , 26 , 27 , 30 , 31 , 39 ].…”

“…The concept of trusted health care providers was prevalent in many of the reviewed studies [ 18 , 20 , 27 , 30 , 31 , 34 , 35 , 45 , 46 , 49 , 50 ]. Parents often listed their physician or health care provider as a trusted source of vaccination information [ 18 , 27 , 30 , 31 ]. Eller et al [ 30 ] examined the association between the level of trust a mother had with their pediatrician and vaccine information sources.…”

“…Parents often listed their physician or health care provider as a trusted source of vaccination information [ 18 , 27 , 30 , 31 ]. Eller et al [ 30 ] examined the association between the level of trust a mother had with their pediatrician and vaccine information sources. Mothers who trusted their pediatrician were 2.47 times more likely to list their pediatrician as their main source of vaccine information compared to mothers who had not established a trusting relationship with their pediatrician [ 30 ].…”

“…Eller et al [ 30 ] examined the association between the level of trust a mother had with their pediatrician and vaccine information sources. Mothers who trusted their pediatrician were 2.47 times more likely to list their pediatrician as their main source of vaccine information compared to mothers who had not established a trusting relationship with their pediatrician [ 30 ]. Parents who chose to vaccinate their children reported their physician as the biggest influence in their decision to vaccinate [ 27 ].…”