Characteristics of Vaccine-Hesitant and Nonhesitant Parents in Italy: A Cross-Sectional Study.
Camilla Elena Magi, Andrea Poliani, Alessia Campoli and 6 others
PMID 41662273WHAT IT FOUND
Among 308 Italian parents, 40 were vaccine-hesitant.
Hesitant parents had lower education, health literacy, vaccine literacy and confidence, relied more on television, and 30 had vaccinated but no longer intended to.
Key findings
01Of 308 parents, 40 (13%) were vaccine-hesitant, and hesitancy was significantly lower among the 150 parents who worked in health care (p =.004).
02Hesitant parents had lower median health literacy (2.2 vs 2.5), lower vaccine literacy (3.2 vs 3.5), and lower vaccine confidence (1 vs 2.2) than nonhesitant parents.
0330 parents had vaccinated their first child but did not intend to vaccinate in future, and nine had not vaccinated but intended to; this inconsistency was significant (p <.001).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was recruited by snowball sampling through social media, so it likely overrepresented urban, digitally connected, female, and health care worker parents. The study was cross-sectional and only used bivariate analyses, so it cannot show cause and did not adjust for potential confounders. All data were self-reported and anonymous, so recall or social desirability bias may have affected responses. Only Italian-speaking parents were included, which may exclude migrant or linguistic minority parents. The brief PACV-5 may not have fully captured the range of hesitancy, and the reported groups were classified by stated intentions. Subgroup analyses, including by geographical area, may have been underpowered.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these associations as evidence that changing information sources or health literacy will reduce hesitancy. The study was cross-sectional, self-selected, and did not test any intervention.