Predictors of parents' infant vaccination decisions: A concept derivation.

Eloïse Botha,Rosemary J Burnett,Petra Bester,Daleen Van Der Merwe

doi:10.4102/hsag.v26i0.1697

Abstract

The myths surrounding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines have prompted scientists to refocus their attention on vaccine hesitancy, which is fuelled by the spread of misinformation. The scientific investigation of behavioural concepts relating to vaccine hesitancy can be enhanced by the examination of behavioural concepts from the field of consumer sciences. South African consumer scientists study personal decisions that contribute to individuals’ well-being, including the decisions to prevent ill health. Current data on the predictors of vaccination decisions do not incorporate consumer science constructs imperative in decision-making, which could provide fresh insights in addressing vaccine hesitancy. This study aimed to investigate and illustrate the analogy between concepts of the Health Belief Model (HBM) as parent model, and consumer behaviour that could affect parents’ infant vaccination decisions, by applying a concept derivation approach. The HBM was analysed within the context of public health, including literature from consumers’ vaccination decisions, medical decisions, paediatrics, vaccinology, virology and nursing. Through a qualitative, theory derivation strategy, six main concepts of the HBM were redefined to consumer sciences, using four iterative concept derivation steps. Concept derivation resulted in consumer behaviour concepts that could be possible predictors of parents’ infant vaccination decisions, including consumers’ values; risk perception; consideration of immediate and future consequences; self-efficacy; cues to action; demographics; personal information and knowledge. These predictors could be a starting point for a context- and product-specific consumer primary preventive healthcare decisions model. Our findings highlight the opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration in investigating consumer primary healthcare-related behaviour.ContributionThis study introduced interfaces between consumer science and health science literature. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, a better understanding of influences to promote primary preventive healthcare can be achieved.

Highlights

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and consequent vaccine developments shed new light on vaccine myths and the long-standing phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy
The researchers asked, ‘How can the concepts of the Health Belief Model (HBM) be transposed to consumer behaviour that may affect consumers’ infant vaccination decisions?’ This study aimed to investigate and illustrate the analogy between concepts of the HBM and those from consumer behaviour that could affect consumers’ infant vaccination decisions, by applying concept derivation
Consumer values relating to individual beliefs from the health belief model According to the HBM, consumers’ beliefs about their infant’s susceptibility to contracting vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), for example, influence their vaccination decision (Guvenc et al 2016)

Summary

Introduction

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and consequent vaccine developments shed new light on vaccine myths and the long-standing phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy was listed in 2019 as one of the top 10 global health threats (World Health Organization 2019), despite the fact that vaccination eradicated smallpox, and drastically reduced the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), saving 2 million – 3 million lives every year (Rodrigues & Plotkin 2020). Consumers base vaccination decisions increasingly more on misinformation spread through the internet and social media (Stecula, Kuru & Hall Jamieson 2020). This misinformation results in vaccine hesitancy, that is, delay or refusal of available vaccination services (MacDonald & Sage Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy 2015), reduction in vaccination coverage (Dube et al 2018; Larson 2018) and outbreaks of VPDs in countries that had previously eliminated these diseases. In terms of vaccination decisions authors like Betsch http://www.hsag.co.za

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