Childhood vaccine hesitancy: The power of metaphors

IF 4.5 3区医学 Q2 IMMUNOLOGY

Vaccine Pub Date : 2025-05-15 DOI:10.1016/j.vaccine.2025.127221

Daniella Campelo Batalha Cox Moore , Marcio Fernandes Nehab , Adriana Teixeira Reis , Maria de Fátima Junqueira-Marinho , Dimitri Marques Abramov , Zina Maria Almeida de Azevedo , Margarida dos Santos Salú , Zilton Farias Meira de Vasconcelos , Saint Clair dos Santos Gomes Junior , Orli Carvalho da Silva Filho , Karla Gonçalves Camacho

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction

Health communication is an issue that deserves attention since there is evidence that the words used to describe a health condition can influence vaccine acceptance. This study aims to carry out a qualitative analysis of the metaphors used by Brazilian parents to describe how vaccines work.

Methods

Data were obtained from a cross-sectional study performed through an online survey from November 17 to December 14, 2021 in Brazil to assess the willingness of adult parents of children and adolescents residing in Brazil during the survey to prevent COVID-19 A set of 4 metaphors of how vaccines work was presented for the participant to choose which one best summarized how vaccines worked (“Vaccines are teachers that teach the body's defense system to fight infections”, “Vaccines are weapons in the war against viruses”, “Vaccines are medicines capable of fighting the virus”, “Vaccines work like vitamins making the defense system stronger”. A qualitative analysis was also performed using the Iramuteq software for the open-ended question that investigated whether there was any phrase that best described how vaccines work. The interpretation and analysis were based on conceptual metaphor theory.

Results

The survey included answers from 15,297 caregivers. Of these, 93.9 % (14,364) chose previously prepared phrases. Around 64,7 % (9902) chose metaphors linked to the instruction scenario, 19.2 % (2941) to the war scenario, 5.2 % (789) to the medication scenario and 4.8 % (732) associated with vitamins. Around 687 respondents wrote options on the form that were analyzed qualitatively with the help of Iramuteq software.

Conclusions

This study highlights that metaphors are a powerful instrument for vaccine adherence, but they should be used based on studies that demonstrate those with positive and negative impacts that may vary from one region to another depending on the sociocultural context.

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儿童对疫苗的犹豫：隐喻的力量

卫生传播是一个值得关注的问题，因为有证据表明，用于描述健康状况的词语会影响疫苗的接受程度。本研究旨在对巴西父母用来描述疫苗如何起作用的隐喻进行定性分析。方法通过2021年11月17日至12月14日在巴西进行的一项在线调查，从横断面研究中获得数据，以评估调查期间居住在巴西的儿童和青少年的成年父母预防COVID-19的意愿。研究人员向参与者提供了4个关于疫苗如何工作的比喻，供他们选择最能概括疫苗如何工作的比喻(“疫苗是教授身体防御系统抵抗感染的老师”；“疫苗是对抗病毒的武器”，“疫苗是能够对抗病毒的药物”，“疫苗像维生素一样使防御系统更强大”。还使用Iramuteq软件对开放式问题进行了定性分析，调查是否有任何短语最能描述疫苗的工作原理。在概念隐喻理论的基础上进行解释和分析。结果该调查包括15297名护理人员的回答。其中，93.9%（14364人）选择了事先准备好的词语。大约64.7%（9902）的人选择了与指导场景相关的隐喻，19.2%（2941）的人选择了与战争场景相关的隐喻，5.2%（789）的人选择了与药物场景相关的隐喻，4.8%（732）的人选择了与维生素相关的隐喻。大约687名受访者在表格上写下了选项，这些选项在Iramuteq软件的帮助下进行了定性分析。本研究强调，隐喻是疫苗依从性的有力工具，但它们的使用应基于研究，这些研究表明，根据不同的社会文化背景，隐喻的积极和消极影响可能因地区而异。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Vaccine 医学-免疫学

CiteScore

8.70

自引率

5.50%

发文量

992

审稿时长

131 days

期刊介绍： Vaccine is unique in publishing the highest quality science across all disciplines relevant to the field of vaccinology - all original article submissions across basic and clinical research, vaccine manufacturing, history, public policy, behavioral science and ethics, social sciences, safety, and many other related areas are welcomed. The submission categories as given in the Guide for Authors indicate where we receive the most papers. Papers outside these major areas are also welcome and authors are encouraged to contact us with specific questions.