Evidence-based strategies for communicating with vaccine-hesitant parents

Washington State has very high vaccine-hesitancy (three times the national average at 4.5% exemption rate for kindergarteners in 2011). Vax Northwest, a Washington State partnership formed in 2008 to address vaccine hesitancy through evidence-based interventions, is currently analyzing the results from a randomized control trial of a communication tool designed to promote more productive conversations between health care providers and vaccine-hesitant parents. This is critical work because, while there are many tools to address vaccine hesitancy, none have ever been formally evaluated. This intervention reviewed in this session is based off of three years of needs assessment and pilot research conducted by Vax Northwest partner organizations: Group Health, Seattle Children's Hospital, WithinReach, the Washington State Department of Health, and the Community Pediatric Foundation of Washington. This research indicated that, among vaccine-hesitant parents, providers are a vital source of information, but only if providers communicate in an empathetic and respectful tone that does not rely exclusively on scientific data. This presentation will detail the intervention that has been developed to address vaccine hesitancy in the provider-parent domain; the protocol focuses on assessing parent attitudes, aligning physician and parent goals even if they don't share common ground on vaccination, and ensuring that an appropriate tone is set for future productive communication. Preliminary results from the randomized control trial regarding the effectiveness of the protocol and any lessons learned will be shared. Data reflect both provider experiences using the protocol and parent receptivity to physicians' vaccination recommendations when providers use the intervention.