Older people's experience of COVID-19 restrictions on vaccine hesitancy: A longitudinal phenomenological study to support nurse-patient vaccination conversations.
Joanne Brooke, Sandra Dunford
PMID 35919020WHAT IT FOUND
Older people described vaccine decisions as changing through lockdown: hoping for normality, trusting science, waiting for frontline workers, questioning dose gaps, feeling safer after vaccination, but still keeping restrictions.
Nurses should expect this over time.
Key findings
01Six stages were identified, from seeing a vaccine as the only hope to vaccination alone not being enough.
02Participants accepted vaccines after following the science and wanted frontline staff vaccinated before them.
03Changing dose guidance left participants confused, and they continued restrictions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Participants were recruited through social media and email, so they may not represent older people who are less digitally connected. All participants were white, of English heritage, and lived in single-occupancy houses with private gardens, so findings may not transfer to more diverse or disadvantaged older adults. Only 13 of the original 19 participants continued into phase 2, which may bias the longitudinal findings. Telephone interviews removed visual nonverbal cues. Both authors were nurses and were vaccinated during the study, and they acknowledged possible personal biases.
Declared interests
No conflict of interest was declared. The research received no specific grant; Birmingham City University supported the work and provided author time.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the six stages as proof that giving scientific information or reassuring patients will increase vaccination. The study describes what older people said over time; it did not test any nurse intervention or measure vaccination uptake.