Evaluation of antivaccination movement in Turkey: qualitative reports of family physicians.

Abstract

In Turkey, childhood vaccination rates are decreasing in the context of increasingly visible antivaccination movements. To evaluate the antivaccination movement based on communication experiences between family physicians and antivaccine parents in Turkey. We conducted 39 face-to-face in-depth interviews with family physicians in Sakarya Province who had experiences of communicating with antivaccine parents during October-December 2019. With the permission of the participants, audio recording was obtained in all interviews except one; these were transcribed verbatim and checked. A thematic approach was used to analyse the data. The most common concern about vaccination was the possible side-effects, followed by the origin of the vaccines, religious concerns and distrust of vaccines. The physicians said they assumed an inquisitive, informative and anxiety-relieving attitude towards antivaccine parents. Parents had various reasons for refusing childhood vaccinations, however, the family physicians used persuasive methods to convince them to accept the vaccinations. Strengthening the communication and persuasive skills of health care professionals regarding vaccination may help increase acceptance of childhood vaccinations.