Background
Little is known about the effects of increased parental vaccine safety concerns on
physicians' vaccine communication attitudes and practices.
Purpose
To assess among pediatricians and family medicine (FM) physicians: (1) prevalence
of parental requests to deviate from recommended vaccine schedules; (2) responses
to such requests; and (3) attitudes about the burden and success of vaccine communications
with parents.
Methods
Survey of nationally representative samples of pediatricians and FM physicians (N=696)
conducted during February to May 2009 with analysis in 2010.
Results
Response rates were 88% for pediatricians and 78% for FM physicians. Overall, 8% of
physicians reported that ≥10% of parents refused a vaccine and 20% reported that ≥10%
of parents requested to spread out vaccines in a typical month. More pediatricians
than FM physicians reported always/often requiring parents to sign a form if they
refused vaccination (53% vs 31%, p<0.0001); 64% of all physicians would agree to spread out vaccines in the primary
series at least sometimes. When talking with parents with substantial concerns, 53%
of physicians reported spending 10–19 minutes and 8% spending ≥20 minutes. Pediatricians
were more likely than FM physicians to report their job less satisfying because of
parental vaccine concerns (46% vs 21%, p<0.0001). Messages most commonly reported as “very effective” were personal statements
such as what they would do for their own children.
Conclusions
The burden of communicating with parents about vaccines is high, especially among
pediatricians. Physicians report the greatest success convincing skeptical parents
using messages that rely on their personal choices and experiences.
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© 2011 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
