Difficulties faced by physicians from four European countries in rebutting antivaccination arguments: a cross-sectional study
Introduction Physicians play a critical role in encouraging their patients to get vaccinated, in part by responding to patients’ concerns about vaccines. It is, therefore, important to understand what difficulties physicians have in dealing with different concerns they may encounter. The aim of this...
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BMJ Publishing Group
2024-07-01
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| Series: | BMJ Public Health |
| Online Access: | https://bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000195.full |
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| author | Fernanda Rodrigues Cornelia Betsch Pierre Verger Harriet Fisher Philipp Schmid Dawn Holford Angelo Fasce Amanda Garrison Linda Karlsson Frederike Taubert Stephan Lewandowsky Anna Soveri |
| author_facet | Fernanda Rodrigues Cornelia Betsch Pierre Verger Harriet Fisher Philipp Schmid Dawn Holford Angelo Fasce Amanda Garrison Linda Karlsson Frederike Taubert Stephan Lewandowsky Anna Soveri |
| author_sort | Fernanda Rodrigues |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction Physicians play a critical role in encouraging their patients to get vaccinated, in part by responding to patients’ concerns about vaccines. It is, therefore, important to understand what difficulties physicians have in dealing with different concerns they may encounter. The aim of this article was to determine physicians’ perceptions of difficulties in rebutting different antivaccination arguments from patients using data collected as part of a cross-sectional, cross-national questionnaire on physicians’ vaccine attitudes and behaviours.Methods Physicians in 4 European countries (Finland, Germany, France and Portugal, total n=2718) rated 33 different arguments, chosen to represent 11 different psychological motivations underlying vaccine hesitancy, in terms of their perceptions of how difficult each argument would be to rebut.Results Across all countries, physicians perceived arguments based on religious concerns and ‘reactance’ (ie, resistance to perceived curbs of freedom) to be the most difficult to rebut, whereas arguments based on patients’ distorted perception of the risks of disease and vaccines were perceived to be the easiest. There were also between-country differences in the level of perceived difficulty of argument rebuttal. Physicians’ perceived difficulty with rebutting arguments was significantly negatively correlated with their vaccine recommendation behaviours and their preparedness for vaccination discussions.Conclusions Physicians may feel better equipped to counter arguments that can be rebutted with facts and evidence but may struggle to respond when arguments are motivated by psychological dispositions or values. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bbe834df6bd444ee9e05b68eb6801091 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2753-4294 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-07-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Public Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-bbe834df6bd444ee9e05b68eb68010912025-01-28T18:35:10ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Public Health2753-42942024-07-012110.1136/bmjph-2023-000195Difficulties faced by physicians from four European countries in rebutting antivaccination arguments: a cross-sectional studyFernanda Rodrigues0Cornelia Betsch1Pierre Verger2Harriet Fisher3Philipp Schmid4Dawn Holford5Angelo Fasce6Amanda Garrison7Linda Karlsson8Frederike Taubert9Stephan Lewandowsky10Anna Soveri115 Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal1 Implementation Research, Health Communication, Bernhard-Nocht-Institut für Tropenmedizin, Hamburg, Germany6 Faculté des Sciences Médicales et Paramédicales, Observatoire Regional de la Sante Provence-Alpes-Cote d`Azur, Marseille, FrancePopulation Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK2 Centre for Language Studies, Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen, The Netherlands1 School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK5 Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal6 Faculté des Sciences Médicales et Paramédicales, Observatoire Regional de la Sante Provence-Alpes-Cote d`Azur, Marseille, France7 Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland3 Institute for Planetary Health Behaviour, University of Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany1 School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK7 Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, FinlandIntroduction Physicians play a critical role in encouraging their patients to get vaccinated, in part by responding to patients’ concerns about vaccines. It is, therefore, important to understand what difficulties physicians have in dealing with different concerns they may encounter. The aim of this article was to determine physicians’ perceptions of difficulties in rebutting different antivaccination arguments from patients using data collected as part of a cross-sectional, cross-national questionnaire on physicians’ vaccine attitudes and behaviours.Methods Physicians in 4 European countries (Finland, Germany, France and Portugal, total n=2718) rated 33 different arguments, chosen to represent 11 different psychological motivations underlying vaccine hesitancy, in terms of their perceptions of how difficult each argument would be to rebut.Results Across all countries, physicians perceived arguments based on religious concerns and ‘reactance’ (ie, resistance to perceived curbs of freedom) to be the most difficult to rebut, whereas arguments based on patients’ distorted perception of the risks of disease and vaccines were perceived to be the easiest. There were also between-country differences in the level of perceived difficulty of argument rebuttal. Physicians’ perceived difficulty with rebutting arguments was significantly negatively correlated with their vaccine recommendation behaviours and their preparedness for vaccination discussions.Conclusions Physicians may feel better equipped to counter arguments that can be rebutted with facts and evidence but may struggle to respond when arguments are motivated by psychological dispositions or values.https://bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000195.full |
| spellingShingle | Fernanda Rodrigues Cornelia Betsch Pierre Verger Harriet Fisher Philipp Schmid Dawn Holford Angelo Fasce Amanda Garrison Linda Karlsson Frederike Taubert Stephan Lewandowsky Anna Soveri Difficulties faced by physicians from four European countries in rebutting antivaccination arguments: a cross-sectional study BMJ Public Health |
| title | Difficulties faced by physicians from four European countries in rebutting antivaccination arguments: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full | Difficulties faced by physicians from four European countries in rebutting antivaccination arguments: a cross-sectional study |
| title_fullStr | Difficulties faced by physicians from four European countries in rebutting antivaccination arguments: a cross-sectional study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Difficulties faced by physicians from four European countries in rebutting antivaccination arguments: a cross-sectional study |
| title_short | Difficulties faced by physicians from four European countries in rebutting antivaccination arguments: a cross-sectional study |
| title_sort | difficulties faced by physicians from four european countries in rebutting antivaccination arguments a cross sectional study |
| url | https://bmjpublichealth.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000195.full |
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