Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Koehler and Gershoff's ( 2003 ) fi ndings suggest that perceiving vaccination as
the less risky option may not be suffi cient to trigger vaccination, because consumers
tend to choose options that provide less overall protection in order to eliminate a
very small probability of harm due to safety product betrayal. Reasoning that safety
product betrayal causes strong negative emotions, which favor emotional (system 1)
appraisals, they propose that dampening the emotional response to potential betrayals
promotes a more cognitive (system 2) appraisal, which would result in a preference
for the lower-risk option (Gershoff and Koehler 2011 ). They test fi ve tactics in a
non-vaccine context which fi nd this to be the case.
Anticipated regret has been identifi ed as a strong predictor of vaccination behavior
(Brewer et al. 2010 ; Chapman and Coups 2006 ; Weinstein et al. 2007 ) but not tested
as a potential communication strategy for vaccines.
Because health care professionals are the most important information source for
vaccination decisions (Kennedy et al. 2011a ), they are the key communication channel
for delivering messages that change the benefi t-risk balance, manage consumers'
pre-decisional emotions, and persuade them to vaccinate. But the effective use of this
channel faces important obstacles: (1) Insuffi cient evidence regarding the effective-
ness of the different possible strategies and messages, for different types of consumers.
Theory- and research-based recommendations such as the ones by Reyna, Gershoff,
and Koehler need to be tested in a vaccination context. There is a wealth of other
recommendations about how to communicate with vaccine-refusing or -hesitant
consumers (e.g., Healy and Pickering 2011 ), but few attempts at empirical validation
(Gust et al. 2008 , 2009 ). (2) Assuming effective messages for different consumer
segments were identifi ed, health care professionals would have to be trained to
rapidly identify to which segment an individual consumer belongs, and deliver the
appropriate message, analogous to what pharmaceutical sales representatives do
during a sales call. (3) Not all health care professionals are strongly convinced of
the safety and benefi ts of vaccines. A study of primary care providers found that
those providing care for unvaccinated children were less likely to have confi dence
in vaccine safety and perceive their benefi ts for individuals and communities that
those providing care for appropriately vaccinated children (Salmon et al. 2008 ).
Communication strategies and messages to change the beliefs and attitudes of these
health care professionals therefore also need to be developed.
13.7.3
Combating Anti-vaccination Information
Anti-vaccination information can be found in popular television programs such as
the Oprah show (Parikh 2008 ), on anti-vaccination websites (Bean 2011 ; Kata
2010 ; 2012 ), online discussion forums (Nicholson and Leask 2012 ), in viral videos
on YouTube (Briones et al. 2012 ), and other media. Typical claims of anti-
vaccination websites are that vaccines are not safe and effective and that vaccination
restricts civil liberties. The most recent study (Bean 2011 ) identifi ed two emerging
trends: a rise in conspiracy theories following the 2009 H1N1 epidemic threat which
Search WWH ::




Custom Search