A social norms approach intervention to address misperceptions of anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs amongst UK parents.

Darel Cookson,Rachel Povey,Daniel Jolley,Robert C Dempsey,Anat Gesser-Edelsburg

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0258985

Abstract

Anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs among parents can reduce vaccination intentions. Parents’ beliefs in anti-vaccine conspiracy theories are also related to their perceptions of other parents’ conspiracy beliefs. Further, research has shown that parents hold misperceptions of anti-vaccine conspiracy belief norms: UK parents over-estimate the anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs of other parents. The present study tested the effectiveness of a Social Norms Approach intervention, which corrects misperceptions using normative feedback, to reduce UK parents’ anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs and increase vaccination intentions. At baseline, 202 UK parents of young children reported their personal belief in anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, future intentions to vaccinate, and their perceptions of other UK parents’ beliefs and intentions. Participants were then randomly assigned to a normative feedback condition (n = 89) or an assessment-only control condition (n = 113). The normative feedback compared participants’ personal anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs and perceptions of other UK parents’ beliefs with actual normative belief levels. Parents receiving the normative feedback showed significantly reduced personal belief in anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs at immediate post-test. As hypothesised, changes in normative perceptions of anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs mediated the effect of the intervention. The intervention, did not directly increase vaccination intentions, however mediation analysis showed that the normative feedback increased perceptions of other parents’ vaccination intentions, which in turn increased personal vaccination intentions. No significant effects remained after a six-week follow-up. The current research demonstrates the potential utility of Social Norms Approach interventions for correcting misperceptions and reducing anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs among UK parents. Further research could explore utilising a top-up intervention to maintain the efficacy.

Highlights

Social norms are informal, unwritten expectations about appropriate social behaviour, outlining what is acceptable and not in particular contexts, and are important determinants of attitudes and behaviours [1,2,3]
The current study aims to test the utility of a brief online normative feedback Social Norms Approach (SNA) intervention to reduce anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and increase vaccination intentions among UK parents of young children
The current research suggests that anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs could be reduced via a brief normative feedback intervention based on the Social Norms Approach

Summary

Introduction

Unwritten expectations about appropriate social behaviour, outlining what is acceptable and not in particular contexts, and are important determinants of attitudes and behaviours [1,2,3]. Perceived social norms are an important predictor of health behaviours [5]. Perceived norms of anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs predict personal belief in anti-vaccine conspiracy theories among parents [6]. Anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs among parents can reduce intentions to vaccinate, which is problematic as UK childhood vaccination rates are below target [7]. Social Norms Approach (SNA) interventions have been successfully used to improve health attitudes and behaviours by challenging commonly held misperceptions or misestimates of actual norms [8]. The current study aims to utilise the SNA intervention to reduce belief in anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and increase vaccination intentions among UK parents

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Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion