Semi-structured, one-on-one interviews were used to collect information from parents about their children's health, the experience of illness in the family, their understanding and interpretation of risk and how all of these related to their decision to immunise. The method of one-on-one interviews rather than focus groups, was chosen as the aim was to explore the parents' experiences and path to choosing to immunise or not, rather than a group discussion of the pros and cons of immunisation. To understand the context of parents' decisions to immunise, the interviews covered four themes: (1) how mothers keep their children healthy; (2) experience, familiarity and concerns regarding both vaccine preventable diseases and other diseases; (3) concepts and influences on risk perception and (4) the decisions, experience and outcomes regarding immunisation. The interview began with questions about health as a nonthreatening introduction and to place the consequent discussions about disease and disease prevention in the framework or context of health.