Vaccines and autism: a preliminary qualitative study on the beliefs of concerned mothers in Italy

ABSTRACT

Purpose: While a large body of evidence has shown that the administration of the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine is not associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a hesitant attitude towards childhood vaccination is still present among the public. In this study, we aim to investigate the mothers’ perceptions of the cause of their child’s ASD in order to increase our understanding of vaccine hesitancy.

Methods: This study draws on the analysis of 18 semi-structured interviews of mothers of children with ASD on the causes of autism.

Results: The interview material was content-analysed. The main themes were 1) childhood vaccines; 2) genetics; 3) specific conditions of the mother or the newborn at the moment of delivery; 4) environmental factors such as the mother’s lifestyle or her diet. The link between vaccines and autism was prevalent. About one third of the mothers reported that their child’s ASD was a consequence of a combination of two or more factors, i.e., childhood vaccines and specific conditions of the newborn or the mother at the moment of delivery.

Conclusion: This study provides preliminary insights into recurring sets of beliefs concerning the causes of ASD among the mothers of affected children.

KEYWORDS:

• Vaccines
• autism
• beliefs
• hesitancy
• mothers
• content analysis

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Professor Silvia Potì, University of Salento, Italy, for her insightful advice on the qualitative data analysis. We are grateful to the parents who accepted to be interviewed and to take part in our research. We are also thankful to Francesca Agresta, specialized in EIBI interventions, for her precious advice on the aptness of different types of interventions in children with ASD.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. A hexavalent vaccine, or 6-in-1 vaccine, is a combination vaccine with six individual vaccines conjugated into one, intended to protect people from multiple diseases: diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B, poliomyelitis and Haemophilus influenzae type b (European Medicine Agency, 2010).

2. Data were collected two years before the Italian National Immunization Prevention Plan 2017–19 was introduced, requiring a proof of vaccination when enrolling children in kindergartens and schools. For this reason, we did not mention the current Italian law in the Introduction section.

3. Currently, there is no Local Review Board for Research in Psychology, at the University of Chieti-Pescara.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Monica Pivetti

Monica Pivetti is currently a researcher in Social Psychology at the University of Bergamo, since 2019. Before that, she was a researcher at the University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, since 2008. She has expertise in designing research and analysing data in the domain of health psychology, psychology of prejudice, social representations theory. She is a registered Psychologist in Italy.

Giannino Melotti

Giannino Melotti is an Associate professor in Social Psychology, University of Bologna, since 2019, and before that, he was a researcher in the same institution since 2005. He has teaching experience in qualitative and quantitative research methods. His research interests focus on Social Representations Theory and on violent behavior in adolescence. He is the scientific manager of the Research center on outdoor education and experiential training (CEFEO), Department of Science of education, University of Bologna.

Claudia Mancini

Claudia Mancini gained her degree in Psychology at the University of Chieti-Pescara in the Fall 2015. She has done her six-months post-graduate internship under the supervision of Prof. Monica Pivetti between May and October 2016.