Representations of influenza and influenza-like illness in the community - a qualitative study

Christine Cedraschi,Marie-France Bordet,Laurence Saya,Patrick Klein,Fabrice Carrat

doi:10.1186/1471-2296-14-15

Abstract

BackgroundThere is little information regarding lay-people's representations of influenza and influenza-like illness in their day-to-day lives. An insight into these views may aid our understanding of community attitudes regarding official recommendations for its prevention.MethodsThis was a qualitative research. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 40 French participants from the community, and from five different locations. Questions elicited the participants' representations of onset of flu and influenza-like illness, as well as their views on what can/should be done to deal with symptoms and their personal experience with flu and flu-like symptoms.ResultsThematic content analyses allowed us to identify five main themes: the presence of a clear continuum between influenza-like illness and flu; a description of flu as a very contagious disease; flu as being benign, except in "frail people", which the respondents never considered themselves to be; interruption of daily activities, which could be considered pathognomonic for influenza for most subjects; self-medication as the main current practice, and requests for healthcare mainly to confirm an auto-diagnosis.ConclusionsThere was a large homogeneity in the representation of flu. There was also a gap between people's representations (i.e., a continuum from having a "cold" to having "influenza") and scientific knowledge (i.e., a distinction between "true" influenza and influenza-like illnesses based on the existence of a confirmatory virological diagnosis). This gap raises issues for current campaigns for flu prevention, as these may not be congruent with the representation of flu being responsible for interrupting daily activities while also being seen as a non-severe disease, as well as the perception that flu is only a risk to "frail people" though no participants considered themselves to be "frail".

Highlights

There is little information regarding lay-people's representations of influenza and influenza-like illness in their day-to-day lives
Identification of a continuum Most participants expressed the idea of a continuum from “cold” to “influenza” including “influenza-like illness” in between
The term “influenza-like illness”(ILI) identified a status that was understood by all participants, but nearly never used in real life

Summary

Introduction

There is little information regarding lay-people's representations of influenza and influenza-like illness in their day-to-day lives An insight into these views may aid our understanding of community attitudes regarding official recommendations for its prevention. A French qualitative study, conducted on a group of patients with cystic fibrosis, a high risk population for severe flu infection, emphasized the role of information sources in these patients in deciding to accept or refuse the H1N1 vaccine. Those who refused the vaccine mentioned receiving multiple and indecisive information, whereas those who accepted the vaccine reported having received unequivocal advice from their healthcare provider [10]. Results from these qualitative studies emphasize that the public need to receive transparent and factual information about the specific actions to be take, and this should be provided by people they can trust [9]

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion