The informed consent in Southern Italy does not adequately inform parents about infant vaccination

Quality of Informed Consent Practices around the Time of Childbirth: A Cross-Sectional Study in Italy

Background: Few studies have explored consent request practices during childbirth. Objective: We explored consent request practices during childbirth in a referral hospital and research centre in Italy, capturing both women and health workers’ perspectives. Methods: Data were collected using self-administrated questionnaires between December 2016 and September 2018. Nine key maternal and newborn procedures were analysed. Associations between consent requests and women characteristics were explored by multiple logistic regression. Results: Among 1244 women, the rate of consent requests varied widely, with caesarean section (CS) showing the highest rate (89.1%) and neonatal conjunctivitis prophylaxis presenting the lowest rate (11.4%). Information provided on “risks/benefits” and “reasons” for procedures by health staff was most often not comprehensive for procedures of interest (range 18.6–87.4%). The lack of informed consent is not specifically linked to any pattern of women characteristics. According to 105 health workers, adequate protocols and standard forms for consent requests were available in 67.6% and 78.1% of cases, respectively, while less than one third (31.4%) reported having received adequate training and supportive supervision on how to deliver informed consent. Conclusions: Study findings align with previous evidence showing that consent request practices during childbirth need to be largely improved. More research is needed to investigate effective strategies for improvement.

Perceived trust in the health system among mothers and nurses and its relationship to the issue of vaccinations among the Arab population of Israel: A qualitative research study

The literature indicates that trust plays an important role in people's decision-making with respect to vaccinations. This research seeks to examine the impact of trust on the high response rate to vaccinations among the minority Arab population living in Israel. The research employs the qualitative phenomenological research method, using personal interviews to identify and analyze perceived trust among mothers of young children and teenagers (n = 70) and among nurses (n = 20) in the Arab population in the context of vaccinations and the high response rate to vaccinations among this population. The research findings point to differing levels of trust in the medical system. The participants placed the highest trust in the nurses working in the Tipat Halav Family Health Centers run by the Ministry of Health. These nurses are the main communicators of information about childhood vaccinations in Israel. Moreover, the interviewees saw vaccinations as an example of the state offering equal and optimal services to the Arab minority population. In addition, the interviewees consider the explanatory materials to be limited, superficial and not culturally appropriate. These positive attitudes toward vaccinations alongside reports that no importance is attributed to the explanatory materials due to their low quality may cause the population to accept vaccination recommendations as they are and to delegate responsibility and authority to the state.

Case of Paradoxical Cultural Sensitivity: Mixed Method Study of Web-Based Health Informational Materials About the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine in Israel

BACKGROUND

Designing web-based informational materials regarding the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has become a challenge for designers and decision makers in the health authorities because of the scientific and public controversy regarding the vaccine's safety and effectiveness and the sexual and moral concerns related to its use.

OBJECTIVE

The study aimed to investigate how cultural sensitivity (CS) is articulated in the explanatory informational materials on the HPV vaccine that are posted on the websites of the Israeli health authorities. In addition, the study examined the effect of transparency on the expression of CS in the informational materials.

METHODS

The study employed a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of the texts of explanatory informational materials published on the Arabic and Hebrew websites of the Israel Ministry of Health and the Clalit health maintenance organization (HMO).

RESULTS

The findings revealed the differences in the dimensions of CS (based on the CS model by Resnicow) between the informational materials targeting the majority Jewish population and those targeting the minority Arab population. Indeed, the research findings point to a paradox. On the one hand, the materials appealing to the conservative Arab population exhibited CS, in that the sexual context of the vaccine was missing. On the other hand, analysis of Resnicow's deep dimensions showed that disregarding the sexual context does not allow the relevant target audience to reflect on the barriers and concerns. In addition, the way the information was provided exhibited a lack of transparency regarding the CS dimensions (surface and deep).

CONCLUSIONS

The public health authorities have 2 main objectives in the context of vaccinations. One is to raise the vaccination rates and the other is to provide full and culturally sensitive information to give the public the tools to make intelligent decisions. The findings of this study indicated that despite the high uptake rate for HPV vaccination in the Arab population, the health authorities did not exercise full transparency and CS in transmitting the association between engaging in sexual relations and the necessity of the vaccination. Thus, the major challenge for the health authorities is to find ways to implement the objective of communicating information about the vaccination in a way that is transparent and culturally sensitive, even if this raises questions and fears among the public deriving from their culture.

Parental experiences with vaccine information statements: Implications for timing, delivery, and parent-provider immunization communication

OBJECTIVE

We examined Vaccine Information Statements (VIS) dissemination practices and parental use and perceptions.

METHODS

We conducted a national online panel survey of 2603 US parents of children aged <7. Primary outcomes included reported VIS receipt, delivery timing, reading experiences, and perceived utility.

RESULTS

Most parents received a VIS (77.2%; [95% CI: 74.5-79.7%]), 59.7% [56.6-62.7%] before vaccination but 14.5% [12.5-16.8%] reported receiving it after their child's immunization; 15.1% [13.0-17.6%] were unsure of receipt status or timing; another 10.7% [9.0-12.6%] reported non-receipt of a VIS. Less than half who received a VIS before vaccination completed it before vaccination (46.2% [42.4, 50.0%]), but most who read at least some found the information useful (95.7% [93.8-97.0%]). Parents who delayed or refused at least one recommended non-influenza vaccine reported fewer opportunities to ask providers VIS questions.

CONCLUSIONS

Most parents report receiving VIS before vaccination as per federal guidelines. Continued effort is needed to enhance VIS distribution practice and parent-provider VIS content communication.

What are parents' perspectives on psychological empowerment in the MMR vaccination decision? A focus group study

OBJECTIVES

Most developed countries do not have compulsory immunisation requirements, but instead issue recommendations. Although parents are expected to make an informed, autonomous (ie, empowered) decision regarding their children's vaccinations, there is no evidence about how parents' interpret this demand nor on the latitude of their decision-making. The goal of this study is to gain insights from parents residing in a low measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) uptake area on what constitutes feelings of empowerment in the decision they have to make on their child's MMR vaccination.

DESIGN

A qualitative study employing focus group interviews.

SETTING

11 vaccination centres and hospitals in the Province of Trento, Italy.

PARTICIPANTS

24 mothers and 4 fathers of children for whom the MMR vaccination decision was still pending participated in 6 focus groups.

RESULTS

Autonomy and competence were salient themes in relation to empowerment, and were further connected with beliefs regarding legal responsibility and ethics of freedom concerning the decision, parents' relationship with the paediatrician (trust), feelings of relevance of the decision and related stress, and seeking, avoidance, or fear of vaccination-related information. Competence was interpreted as medical knowledge and information-seeking skills, but it was also related to the extent parents perceived the paediatrician to be competent.

CONCLUSIONS

Since parents' interpretation of empowerment goes beyond mere perceptions of being informed and autonomous and differs across individuals, it is important that this construct be correctly interpreted and implemented by best practice, for instance by explicitly adopting a relational conception of autonomy. Knowing whether parents want to make an empowered decision and what their information and autonomy needs are might help health professionals adapt their communication about immunisation, and promote parental perception of making an informed, autonomous decision.

Arguments and sources on Italian online forums on childhood vaccinations: Results of a content analysis

BACKGROUND

Despite being committed to the immunization agenda set by the WHO, Italy is currently experiencing decreasing vaccination rates and increasing incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases. Our aim is to analyze Italian online debates on pediatric immunizations through a content analytic approach in order to quantitatively evaluate and summarize users' arguments and information sources.

METHODS

Threads were extracted from 3 Italian forums. Threads had to include the keyword Vaccin* in the title, focus on childhood vaccination, and include at least 10 posts. They had to have been started between 2008 and June 2014. High inter-coder reliability was achieved. Exploratory analysis using k-means clustering was performed to identify users' posting patterns for arguments about vaccines and sources.

RESULTS

The analysis included 6544 posts mentioning 6223 arguments about pediatric vaccinations and citing 4067 sources. The analysis of argument posting patterns included users who published a sufficient number of posts; they generated 85% of all arguments on the forum. Dominating patterns of three groups were identified: (1) an anti-vaccination group (n=280) posted arguments against vaccinations, (2) a general pro-vaccination group (n=222) posted substantially diverse arguments supporting vaccination and (3) a safety-focused pro-vaccination group (n=158) mainly forwarded arguments that questioned the negative side effects of vaccination. The anti-vaccination group was shown to be more active than the others. They use multiple sources, own experience and media as their cited sources of information. Medical professionals were among the cited sources of all three groups, suggesting that vaccination-adverse professionals are gaining attention.

CONCLUSIONS

Knowing which information is shared online on the topic of pediatric vaccinations could shed light on why immunization rates have been decreasing and what strategies would be best suited to address parental concerns. This suggests there is a high need for developing automated approaches to detect misleading or false information on the Internet.