Tag Archive for: vaccine hesitancy

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Addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy for parents and caregivers

 

baby getting vaccinated

A one-hour webinar delivered as a digital intervention can reduce parental COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and parental uncertainty regarding vaccine information.

While vaccines have been proven to be highly effective in preventing COVID-19 infections and severe illness, the goal of achieving herd immunity remains unattainable without vaccinating children. Due to the prevalence of misinformation on the internet, Lauren Arrigoni, DNP, and Claire Boogaard, M.D., M.P.H., at Children’s National Hospital led a study, published in the Journal of Pediatric Health Care, that addresses parental hesitancy about giving their children COVID-19 vaccines. They found that a one-hour webinar delivered as a digital intervention can reduce parental COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and parental uncertainty regarding vaccine information.

The big picture

The study used a pretest-posttest design with an adapted version of the Parental Attitudes about Childhood Vaccine (PACV) survey for COVID-19 vaccines. The webinar was streamed live and later posted to YouTube with survey QR codes and pre-survey and post-survey links in the video description. PACV data from the recorded webinar were collected over 4 weeks after the original webinar date. According to Dr. Arrigoni, the webinar itself was a collaborative work of a nurse and physicians to help provide scientific-based evidence for the general population of parents and caregivers. This project’s results have important implications for practice, as the researchers suggest that educational strategies have the potential to improve vaccination rates by increasing parental confidence in the COVID-19 vaccine. Using the webinar as a digital education strategy, the researchers also designed a dedicated section to empower parents to have conversations with their peers who may be hesitant about vaccines, even if they lack a medical background.

The patient benefit

While it was not possible to directly measure vaccination rates during this project due to time constraints, the researchers did find that parents who participated in the webinar felt more empowered and informed to make the decision to vaccinate their child. By addressing common parental concerns and providing accurate information, the webinar, as well as other types of digital interventions, could play a role in improving vaccination rates and ultimately contributing to truly ending the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why we’re excited

Overall, this study indicates that a webinar can effectively engage a large audience, educate them about vaccines and encourage conversations around vaccination.

“Vaccine hesitancy outreach can even begin before the vaccine is available,” says Dr. Arrigoni. “Applying these learned lessons can lead to more vaccinated individuals and would be an important step in battling parental vaccine hesitancy now and for future pandemics and viruses.”

You can read the full study, A Webinar to Improve Parental COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy, in the Journal of Pediatric Health Care.

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Adolescents with ADHD more hesitant to get COVID-19 vaccine

boy getting vaccinatedAdolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) report greater hesitancy and less confidence in COVID-19 vaccine safety compared to adolescents without ADHD, a new study finds.

For all adolescents in the study, those who identified as Black or Latino — and came from families with lower income levels — were more likely to be vaccine hesitant and report lower confidence in the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.

Whereas greater COVID-19 concerns, compliance to social distancing guidelines, media use and perceived negative impact of COVID-19 on relationships was associated with greater vaccination willingness.

The study, led by Melissa Dvorsky, Ph.D., director of ADHD & Learning Differences Program at Children’s National Hospital, also highlighted that:

  • Adolescents with ADHD who engage in large gatherings indoors are at greater risk for vaccine hesitancy.
  • Interventions should target social-cognitive processes for adolescent vaccination.

“Adolescents with ADHD being more vaccine hesitant is perhaps in part due to core risk mechanisms associated with ADHD, likely impacting planning, motivation and execution of vaccination, adolescents’ risk appraisal, and perceived susceptibility to COVID-19,” Dr. Dvorsky said. “Our study also found key social mechanisms predicted increased vaccine acceptance and uptake, and these factors should be leveraged in ongoing initiatives addressing vaccine uptake among teens.”

Findings have important implications for health and mental health providers and educational strategies aimed at promoting COVID-19 vaccinations in adolescents.

Earlier this month, Mayor Muriel Bowser and DC Health announced amplified efforts to encourage families to vaccinate youth ahead of the upcoming 2022-2023 school year, sending a message that students must get caught up on vaccinations over the summer. In addition to expanding access to vaccination services, a concerted effort, Dvorsky added, is needed to increase trust, confidence, motivation and social relevance among adolescents. This is especially true for those with ADHD and from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

“As health and mental health care providers, we are uniquely positioned to offer effective communication using strong, presumptive language with all adolescents in our community to address vaccine hesitancy. Adolescents with ADHD, in particular, can benefit from frequent behavioral ‘nudges’ (such as prompts or reminders, automatic appointments) and social/motivational strategies (such as social network interventions, peer-delivered approaches, motivational interviewing) to increase vaccine uptake.”

It’s important to note that research addressing adolescent COVID-19 vaccination willingness and readiness remains scarce.

The study included 196 adolescents (87 male) ages 16-18 from two sites in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States. Participants were high school students in 11th and 12th grade during the 2020-2021 school year. Participants came from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds, with 21% of families falling below the 2019 U.S. median household income ($68,703). Approximately half of the participants were comprehensively diagnosed with ADHD prior to COVID-19.

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Sentiments about COVID-19 testing among Black parents in the United States

boy getting covid test

An analysis led by Sarah Schaffer DeRoo, M.D., found that knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about COVID-19 testing plays a key role in preventing COVID-19 transmission among Black parents.

Black-majority communities have been disproportionately affected by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections, hospitalizations and deaths. As of September 2021, Black Americans had nearly three times the hospitalization rate and double the death rate due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as compared to White Americans.

An analysis led by Sarah Schaffer DeRoo, M.D., pediatrician at Children’s National Hospital, aimed to characterize knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about COVID-19 testing – a key tool for preventing COVID-19 transmission – among Black parents.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using a phenomenology approach with 26 self-identified Black parents after telemedicine visits with a children’s health center. Three central themes emerged regarding COVID-19 testing decision-making, including perceived COVID-19 disease susceptibility, barriers to testing and cues to action. Parents were keen to pursue testing to ensure the safety of themselves and their loved ones, especially if they perceived a high risk for COVID-19 infection, such as due to a known positive contact. However, barriers to testing for some parents included concerns about accuracy and safety of the tests, as well as possible stigma associated with a positive test result. Parents also shared their concern that a positive test result would not be met with an appropriate medical response due to structural racism in the health care system, making some reluctant to pursue testing.

“When considering the themes that emerged from these interviews, we were able to better understand Black Americans’ views of COVID-19 testing and motivations for accessing testing,” says Dr. Schaffer DeRoo. “Culturally responsive educational campaigns delivered by trusted community members should aim to improve understanding about disease transmission and testing.”

Framing testing as a means to ensure safety and acknowledging and addressing institutionalized racism that affects COVID-19 care may improve self-efficacy to obtain testing. “The health community should learn from these conversations with Black Americans so that disease prevention and mitigation strategies prioritize health equity,” says Dr. Schaffer DeRoo.