Title: Improving Communication With the Public About Antivirals and Vaccination During the Next Pandemic
Funder: Department of Health (England)

Abstract: Background During the 2009 pandemic, disappointingly few people sought care rapidly, collected antiviral medication that had been authorised for them, completed their course of antivirals or accepted vaccination. Many factors contributed to the low uptake of these recommended behaviours. Some of these are relevant to any pandemic. These include scepticism among the public, concern about the side-effects of antivirals or vaccination and doubts about the feasibility of official recommendations. When and how information about recommendations is received by people is also relevant, with the rapid spread of information via on-line social media presenting challenges for communicators tasked with ensuring that their messages dominate in this environment. Our project will explore these potential determinants of adherence to official recommendations and identify ways to improve communications to increase adherence. Aims 1. Identify demographic and psychological predictors of scepticism in the early stages of the H1N1 pandemic, and of uptake of H1N1 vaccination. 2. Explore data about National Pandemic Flu Service (NPFS) users to determine the demographic predictors of and self-reported reasons for also using their GP, delaying NPFS use, and not collecting, starting or completing a course of antivirals (WP2). 3. Examine how communication campaigns and levels of worry affected trends over time in the use of NPFS and GPs during the H1N1 pandemic (WP2). 4. Identify barriers to, and enablers of, vaccination and antiviral uptake in future pandemic scenarios which differ in severity, and develop prototype messages to promote vaccine and antiviral uptake (WP3). 5. Conduct a content analysis of blogs and tweets during the last pandemic about vaccination and use of antivirals to identify message characteristics associated with rapid spread of this information (WP4). 6. Assess the likely effectiveness of evidence-based messages to promote positive responses to pandemic vaccination and antiviral campaigns (WP5). 7. Develop and disseminate guidelines based on our programme of work which will facilitate communications with the public during the next pandemic (WP6). Research plan Aim 1 will be met by analysing existing data from 39 national telephone surveys conducted by the Department of Health during the last pandemic. These asked participants to report if “too much fuss” was being made and whether they had accepted an offer of vaccination. Aims 2 and 3 will be met by analysing existing data from 2.7 million assessments made by NPFS and from a survey of 2,500 NPFS users asking about behaviours and views relating to NPFS and antivirals. Aim 4 will be met using focus groups and interviews with health professionals responsible for providing vaccination and with a diversity sample of the general public. Qualitative data analysis will include inductive and deductive analysis informed by a comprehensive theory of behaviour change. Aim 5 will be met by analysing 2500 blogs and 5000 tweets made during the last pandemic in connection with antivirals or vaccination, using a visual analytic tool to document the scale, nature and determinants of online discussion. Aim 6 will be met using focus groups and an on-line experiment with the general public, testing the ability of evidence-based messages to influence intended vaccination and antiviral use. Aim 7 will be met by a dedicated dissemination work package and stakeholder workshop. Research team Our multi-disciplinary team includes experts in health psychology, epidemiology, statistics and emergency response. All members were involved in producing behavioural and social science research during the last pandemic and most sit on the Department of Health’s Scientific Pandemic Influenza subcommittees, making us well-placed to consider our findings within a broader scientific context. Potential impact Using evidence-based strategies to communicate about vaccination and antivirals will improve uptake and reduce the health impact of the next pandemic.


Research activity codes: 7.1 INDIVIDUAL CARE NEEDS;3.4 VACCINES
Health categories: INFECTION