Influenza Vaccine, Influenza
Conditions
Keywords
children, psychological predictors, side-effects, vaccination
Brief summary
This study investigates whether there are psychological predictors of parental perception of side-effects following vaccination with the child flu vaccine. We will also investigate whether the perception of side-effects affects parents' intention to vaccinate their child again in the following flu season, as well as whether there are underlying differences in parents' cognitive biases between those who do and do not re-vaccinate their child.
Detailed description
In 2012, the British Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended that the influenza vaccination programme be extended to include children aged 2 to 16. In the three flu seasons in which the child flu immunisation programme has been running (2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16), uptake rates have been low (approximately 40%). Multiple factors are likely to underlie the poor uptake, including thinking the vaccine was unsafe and ineffective and having experienced side-effects related to the vaccine previously. Although symptoms are commonly reported following vaccinations, their causes are not always straightforward. Although a minority may be directly attributable to the vaccine itself, others may reflect pre-existing or coincidental symptoms that are misattributed to the vaccine. Following vaccination, an expectation that the vaccine causes side-effects may also contribute to parents detecting symptoms in their child that might otherwise have gone unnoticed. Perception of side-effects may also influence the parent's decision to vaccinate their child again in following years. Other possible factors influencing parents' perception of side-effects and their willingness to vaccinate their child again are their personal health beliefs and their interpretations of the information they are given about vaccination and side-effects. These cognitive processes can be measured objectively using experimental tasks, and can reveal characteristic patterns, or 'cognitive biases' which govern behaviour.
Interventions
OTHERNo intervention
Participants in this study will not receive any interventions as part of the study.
Sponsors
King's College London
Study design
Observational model
COHORT
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Parents of guardians of children aged 2-4 on 31st August 2016 (i.e. born September 1st 2011 to August 31st 2014) who receive the flu vaccine at the GP * Parents must be aged 18 or over * Parents must be fluent in English
Exclusion criteria
\-
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Number of participants who perceive their child to have treatment-related adverse events from the child flu vaccine | October 2016 - March 2017 | Using questionnaire materials as a method of assessment |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Intention to re-vaccinate child | October 2016 - March 2017 | Using a scale as a method of assessment |
| Negative interpretative bias scores as assessed by the scrambled sentences and similarity ratings tasks | October 2016 - March 2017 | — |
Other
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Vaccination status of child for flu at end of 2017/18 flu season | January - March 2018 |
Countries
United Kingdom
Outcome results
None listed