How students and mothers view child vaccination: focus group analysis

Abstract

Background: 1,291 cases of vaccination refusals were reported in Slovakia until August 2012. Over the following year the number of refusals grew to 2,595. Present paper aims to qualitatively explore background of this phenomenon. Method: Focus Group discussions with students and mothers of small children (N=76) were transcribed and analyzed by qualitative analysis software using several theoretical frameworks. Findings: Mothers make vaccination decisions within stressful context of newborn screening calls. In such conditions decision making is often subject to biases and driven by fear. It is more likely for mothers to vaccine first child and not to vaccinate further children since parents have had time to formulate their positions. Decisions are mostly supported by friends with medical or pharmaceutical background whom parents usually trust and consider them to be experts. Discussion: Parents attempt to balance an array of potential risks of vaccinating or not vaccinating. The process could be explained by several heuristics, e.g. Ambiguity Aversion Heuristics (Leask, s.a.) or Affect Heuristics (Slovic et al., 2007). The theme of trust also tends to resonate repeatedly. (VEGA Grant 2/0154/13)