Vaccine hesitancy among physicians: a qualitative study with general practitioners and paediatricians in Austria and Germany.
BMJ Open
; 14(1): e077411, 2024 01 22.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38262649
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
This study aims to understand reasons for vaccine hesitancy (VH) among general practioners (GPs) and paediatricians. We aim to analyse how and when the healthcare workers (HCWs) developed vaccine-hesitant views and how they transfer these to patients. DESIGN ANDSETTING:
Semistructured interviews with vaccine-hesitant GPs and paediatricians were conducted in Austria and Germany using an explorative qualitative research design.PARTICIPANTS:
We contacted 41 physicians through letters and emails and 10 agreed to participate, five were male and five female. DATA COLLECTION ANDANALYSIS:
Ten interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and anonymised. The material was analysed inductively following a grounded theory approach with open coding using the software atlas.ti.RESULTS:
Key themes that were identified were education and career path, understanding of medicine and medical profession, experiences with vaccines, doctor-patient interactions and continuous education activities and the link to VH. GPs and paediatricians' vaccine-hesitant attitudes developed during their medical training and, in particular, during extracurricular training in homeopathy, which most of the participants completed. Most participants work in private practices rather than with contracts with social insurance because they are not satisfied with the health system. Furthermore, they are critical of biomedicine. Most of the interview partners do not consider themselves antivaccination, but are sceptical towards vaccines and especially point out the side effects. Most do not vaccinate in their practices and some do only occasionally. Their vaccine-hesitant views are often fostered through respective online communities of vaccine-hesitant HCWs.CONCLUSIONS:
More studies on a connection between complementary medicine and vaccine-hesitant views of HCWs are needed. Education about vaccines and infectious diseases among healthworkers must increase especially tailored towards the use of internet and social media. Physicians should be made aware that through time and empathy towards their patients they could have a positive impact on undecided patients and parents regarding vaccine decisions.Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Vaccines
/
General Practitioners
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
BMJ Open
Year:
2024
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Austria