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A Research Presentation by Adina Robinson, Ph.D. 

 

Abstract:

This research employs a customer-centric approach to uncover reasons for parental vaccine hesitancy and develop an approach for addressing it. The study draws on 229 in-depth conversations between vaccine-hesitant parents and healthcare professionals. It finds that vaccine hesitancy in most cases stems from parents’ efforts to fulfill unmet emotional needs to regain control over their children’s health pursuant to encounters with poorly understood traumatic illnesses. More generally, vaccine hesitancy is the end result of a meaning-making process in which parents try to comprehend what triggers the traumatic illnesses and enact their roles as worthy parents. Thus, contrary to a healthcare professional’s perspective, vaccine hesitancy from a parent’s perspective is an effort at responsible parenting aimed at protecting children’s health. Based on these findings, the authors propose a two-step intervention for addressing parental vaccine hesitancy: first focus on parents’ emotional needs (e.g., via empathic listening and struggle validation) and then focus on their informational needs (e.g., vaccine safety data). A preliminary test of the intervention using a study-within-study design yields promising results. The two-step intervention approach underscores the importance of “customer control” and offers a framework that may be used beyond the healthcare context, such as the marketing of high-risk products.