Abstract
BackgroundParental hesitancy for recommended childhood vaccines is a growing public health concern influenced by various factors. This study aimed to explore regret regarding parental decisions to vaccinate their children via possible correlations between anticipated regret, altruism, coping strategies, and parents’ attitudes toward the vaccination of their children.MethodsThe study was conducted during 2014 in Israel. Data were collected via snowballing methodology (i.e., Internet forums, Facebook and e- mails). 314 parents of children ages 0–6 years participated in the study. Questionnaires were distributed and completed on-line including attitudes toward vaccines, altruism, coping strategies, regret and anticipated regret.ResultsPearson analysis revealed a moderate negative association between attitudes toward vaccinations and regret. In addition, weak but significant positive associations emerged between anticipated regret and regret as well as between gender and regret.Performing hierarchical regression analysis revealed contribution of 35.9 % to the explained variance of regret suggesting that coping strategy of instrumental support, attitudes toward vaccinations and anticipated regret are linked significantly to regret.ConclusionParental attitudes toward vaccines and anticipated regret have a salient role when deciding whether or not to vaccinate children and contribute to the prediction of regret regarding vaccination. In order to increase parental consent to vaccination of their children, it is important to minimize possible regret through the strength of the recommendation and/or knowledge base about risk/benefit (perceived, heuristic) of vaccines that might influence parental attitudes and lessen their anticipated regret.Trial registrationN/A. This is not a clinical trial and thus does not require registration. Ethics approval was received from Ariel University School of Social Work Ethics committee (18/02/14). This was an attitude survey.The Ariel University School of Social Work Ethics committee approved performance of this attitude survey (18/02/14).
Highlights
Parental hesitancy for recommended childhood vaccines is a growing public health concern influenced by various factors
Inspired by the Health Belief Model (HBM) theory we proposed anticipated regret, altruism, attitudes toward vaccines and coping strategies as variables that might predict regret regarding the parent’s decision to vaccinate their children
Sample and procedure The study was conducted in Israel during the year 2014, following the summer of 2013 when the Israeli government launched a nationwide vaccination campaign, in an attempt to inoculate all children under age ten with oral polio vaccine (OPV), a form of the vaccine containing a live, weakened form of the virus [30]
Summary
Parental hesitancy for recommended childhood vaccines is a growing public health concern influenced by various factors. Kumar et al [2] claimed that the causes of vaccine hesitancy can be described as a complex interaction of external, agent-specific and host-specific factors such as immunization requirements, policies, media, norms, vaccine-efficacy, vaccine safety, race, education, income and knowledge about vaccines Despite their valuable contribution to the understanding of vaccine hesitancy, psychological factors have not received much attention in their review. Valen [6] focused on vaccine hesitancy in a local, culture-dependent setting in the Israeli population and did not relate to specific psychological factors He acknowledged that in Israel vaccine hesitancy appears to be a process where individuals exercise self-determination and self-empowerment and make their own decisions based on assessment, reflection, choosing between various options and dealing with considerable complexities. Since sense of regret might be part of this process, the aim of the current study was to explore personal variables that might play a role in predicting regret of parental decision making toward childhood vaccination among Israelis parents
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