Parents and health professionals’ opinions on information tools on mandatory childhood vaccines
Abstract Background South-eastern France is marked by insufficient vaccination coverage for several vaccines and some mistrust of its population towards vaccination. In this context and given the application of new vaccination obligations for early childhood, we carried out a qualitative survey to study opinions of parents and health professionals (HPs) on information tools on vaccination (ITV). Methods An inventory of French existing ITV was conducted to select a diverse set of 17 ITV for our qualitative evaluation. In 2018, we carried out 26 individual interviews with parents of young children (recruited in nurseries and kindergartens) and 5 focus groups with HPs (nurses, general practitioners, midwives and pediatricians; n = 33). Results Most parents appreciated videos for their convenience: they used them to discover new/complex subjects in an entertaining way. Paper ITV remained essential mostly among parents with high socio-economic status (SES) or marked vaccine hesitancy, who also requested detailed information and scientific sources. Some parents of low SES considered ITV difficult to understand because of their length, quantity of information and scientific language. For HPs, giving their patients a paper ITV is a way to show the importance they attach to their patient’s questions. HPs reported reluctance using videos during consultations. Some HPs stated their need for guidance on two aspects: 1) key discussion points to use when giving an ITV to parents and 2) most appropriate timing to give ITVs: prescription, injection… Conclusions In the pool of tested ITV, articulation and formatting of arguments are not always optimal for HP and parents use. Tailored ITV should be available for the different needs of HP and parents, especially, for the latter, according to their SES and hesitancy profiles. ITV adapted to use during consultation are necessary. Key messages Information tools on vaccination (ITV) are not always optimal for HP and parents use. ITV should be tested and better adapted to the patient profile and consultation context.