Information source’s influence on vaccine perceptions: an exploration into perceptions of knowledge, risk and safety

ABSTRACT

Background

College-age students are a particularly important population regarding establishing beliefs about vaccines that carry on into later adulthood. One of the primary ways these beliefs can be influenced is via the source of information that students turn to concerning vaccine information.

Method

We administered a survey to 180 college-age students based on the WHO Report of the SAGE Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy (2014). Questions focused on vaccine beliefs, perceived knowledge, perceived safety and perceived risk. Participants were also measured on sources they would use to obtain information on vaccines (e.g. healthcare providers, news media, government official, social media, friends, and parents).

Results

Based on regression analyses, vaccine beliefs were significantly impacted by safety (β = .44) and risk perceptions (β = .29) at the expense of knowledge perceptions. Furthermore, various information sources influenced perceptions of safety (healthcare provider (β = .24)), risk (social media (β = −.19)), and knowledge (social media (β = −.20) and healthcare providers (β = .16)). Specifically, increases in social media source usage resulted in more negative vaccine beliefs. Conversely, utilization of healthcare providers resulted in more positive vaccine beliefs.

Conclusion

Results suggest, in cases of college-age students, vaccine information should focus on issues dealing with students’ perceptions of risk and safety, not their level of knowledge. Additionally, while parents and friends may act as a primary information sources, more attention needs to be paid to the negative impact of social media and the positive impact of healthcare providers.

KEYWORDS:

• Vaccination
• communication
• risk
• health education

Ethical approval

No funds supported the development of this article. Ethical approval was granted by the Institutional Review Board of Bryant University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data available on request from the authors

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Julie E. Volkman

Julie E. Volkman, PhD (Penn State University) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Bryant University and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Informatics and Implementation Science at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Kirsten L. Hokeness

Kirsten L. Hokeness, PhD (Brown University) is Professor and Chair of the Department of Science and Technology at Bryant University.

Chris R. Morse

Chris R. Morse, PhD (Penn State University) is Professor in the Department of Communication at Bryant University.

Alyce Viens

Alyce Viens, MA (Bryant University) is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at the University of Connecticut studying mass communication and media effects.

Alexandra Dickie

Alexandra Dickie, BS (Bryant University) is a Master’s student in Psychology at Rhode Island College.