Tailoring of Vaccine-Focused Messages: Moral Foundations
Condition: Childhood Vaccinations
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study is the first phase of a trial examining decision making about vaccines. This phase
      tests the impact of targeted vaccine-focused health messages on vaccine beliefs held by
      parents of young children and pre-adolescents. The participant's vaccine beliefs will be
      assessed at baseline. Two weeks later, the participant's moral matrix will be assessed. A
      vaccine-related message that appeals to the individual's three most or least emphasized moral
      foundations will then be presented. Immediately afterwards, vaccine beliefs will be assessed
      to determine the impact of the message.
    

Detailed description: 
      Vaccination of young children helps protect this population against a variety of diseases.
      Children are especially at risk for contraction of and complications from diseases due to
      their vulnerable immune systems. New evidence-based messages are needed to maintain and
      increase vaccination uptake among this group. An emphasis on different values is related to
      decisions parents make about vaccines. The purpose of this study is to develop, implement,
      and evaluate messages that focus on different aspects of values to impact vaccination
      attitudes among parents of young children.

      Parents emphasize different moral foundations when deciding whether or not to vaccinate
      children. Based on this research, a messaging intervention with parents of children who are
      12 years of age or younger will be conducted. These messages will aid in assessment of how
      different moral foundations impact attitudes towards vaccination and intent to vaccinate.

      This study tests the impact of targeted vaccine-focused health messages on vaccine beliefs
      held by parents of young children and pre-adolescents. The participant's vaccine beliefs will
      be assessed at baseline. Two weeks later, the participant's moral matrix will be assessed. A
      vaccine-related message that appeals to the individual's three most or least emphasized moral
      foundations will then be presented. Immediately afterwards, vaccine beliefs will be assessed
      to determine the impact of the message.
    

Intervention name(s): Baseline Survey; Pre-intervention Survey; Morally Congruent Message; Morally Non-Congruent Message; Control Message; Post-Intervention Survey
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): The baseline survey contains questions regarding level of existing vaccine hesitancy (Parent Attitudes about Childhood Vaccines (PACV) short scale and HealthStyles questions), demographic information, and intent to vaccinate their children. All study surveys will be completed on an electronic device.; Participants will be contacted two weeks after completing the baseline survey to answer questions about their moral beliefs. The survey will include questions form the Moral Foundations Questionnaire as well as additional questions. An algorithm will calculate the participant's moral matrix based on answers to these questions.; Intervention messages consist of four short paragraphs. The first three focus on how getting vaccinated helps uphold specific moral foundations. The fourth summarizes the contents of the prior paragraphs.
Participants randomized to the morally congruent arm will receive a vaccine-related message developed to appeal to their three most-emphasized moral foundations. The first paragraph focuses on the most emphasized foundation, the second on the third-most emphasized, and the third on the second-most emphasized.; Intervention messages consist of four short paragraphs. The first three focus on how getting vaccinated helps uphold specific moral foundations.
Participants randomized to the morally non-congruent arm will receive a vaccine-related message developed to appeal to their three least-emphasized moral foundations. The first paragraph focuses on the least emphasized foundation, the second on the third-least emphasized, and the third on the second-least emphasized.; Participants randomized to the control arm will be provided with a short passage about the costs and benefits of bird feeding.; Immediately after reading the randomly assigned message participants will complete a follow-up survey assessing level of existing vaccine hesitancy (PACV short scale and HealthStyles questions) and intent to vaccinate their children.
Other intervention name(s): Morally Congruent Vaccine Focused Message; Morally Non-Congruent Vaccine Focused Message
Intervention MeSH terms: Vaccines
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Other
Keywords: Vaccines