Vaccine hesitancy among physicians: a qualitative study with general practitioners and paediatricians in Austria and Germany
Objective This study aims to understand reasons for vaccine hesitancy (VH) among general practioners (GPs) and paediatricians. We aim to analyse how and when the healthcare workers (HCWs) developed vaccine-hesitant views and how they transfer these to patients.Design and setting Semistructured inter...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2024-01-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/1/e077411.full |
| _version_ | 1826805756196814848 |
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| author | Ruth Kutalek Elena Jirovsky-Platter Silvia Wojczewski Katja M Leitner Kathryn Hoffmann |
| author_facet | Ruth Kutalek Elena Jirovsky-Platter Silvia Wojczewski Katja M Leitner Kathryn Hoffmann |
| author_sort | Ruth Kutalek |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective This study aims to understand reasons for vaccine hesitancy (VH) among general practioners (GPs) and paediatricians. We aim to analyse how and when the healthcare workers (HCWs) developed vaccine-hesitant views and how they transfer these to patients.Design and setting Semistructured interviews with vaccine-hesitant GPs and paediatricians were conducted in Austria and Germany using an explorative qualitative research design.Participants We contacted 41 physicians through letters and emails and 10 agreed to participate, five were male and five female.Data collection and analysis Ten interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and anonymised. The material was analysed inductively following a grounded theory approach with open coding using the software atlas.ti.Results Key themes that were identified were education and career path, understanding of medicine and medical profession, experiences with vaccines, doctor–patient interactions and continuous education activities and the link to VH. GPs and paediatricians’ vaccine-hesitant attitudes developed during their medical training and, in particular, during extracurricular training in homeopathy, which most of the participants completed. Most participants work in private practices rather than with contracts with social insurance because they are not satisfied with the health system. Furthermore, they are critical of biomedicine. Most of the interview partners do not consider themselves antivaccination, but are sceptical towards vaccines and especially point out the side effects. Most do not vaccinate in their practices and some do only occasionally. Their vaccine-hesitant views are often fostered through respective online communities of vaccine-hesitant HCWs.Conclusions More studies on a connection between complementary medicine and vaccine-hesitant views of HCWs are needed. Education about vaccines and infectious diseases among healthworkers must increase especially tailored towards the use of internet and social media. Physicians should be made aware that through time and empathy towards their patients they could have a positive impact on undecided patients and parents regarding vaccine decisions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T21:54:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f6bee2bc3f2d47cfadab922cbfab4f8d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-03-17T02:15:30Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-f6bee2bc3f2d47cfadab922cbfab4f8d2025-02-12T19:45:10ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552024-01-0114110.1136/bmjopen-2023-077411Vaccine hesitancy among physicians: a qualitative study with general practitioners and paediatricians in Austria and GermanyRuth Kutalek0Elena Jirovsky-Platter1Silvia Wojczewski2Katja M Leitner3Kathryn Hoffmann4Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Social and Preventive Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Primary Care Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaInnere Medizin, Kantonsspital Aarau, Aarau, SwitzerlandDepartment of Primary Care Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaObjective This study aims to understand reasons for vaccine hesitancy (VH) among general practioners (GPs) and paediatricians. We aim to analyse how and when the healthcare workers (HCWs) developed vaccine-hesitant views and how they transfer these to patients.Design and setting Semistructured interviews with vaccine-hesitant GPs and paediatricians were conducted in Austria and Germany using an explorative qualitative research design.Participants We contacted 41 physicians through letters and emails and 10 agreed to participate, five were male and five female.Data collection and analysis Ten interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and anonymised. The material was analysed inductively following a grounded theory approach with open coding using the software atlas.ti.Results Key themes that were identified were education and career path, understanding of medicine and medical profession, experiences with vaccines, doctor–patient interactions and continuous education activities and the link to VH. GPs and paediatricians’ vaccine-hesitant attitudes developed during their medical training and, in particular, during extracurricular training in homeopathy, which most of the participants completed. Most participants work in private practices rather than with contracts with social insurance because they are not satisfied with the health system. Furthermore, they are critical of biomedicine. Most of the interview partners do not consider themselves antivaccination, but are sceptical towards vaccines and especially point out the side effects. Most do not vaccinate in their practices and some do only occasionally. Their vaccine-hesitant views are often fostered through respective online communities of vaccine-hesitant HCWs.Conclusions More studies on a connection between complementary medicine and vaccine-hesitant views of HCWs are needed. Education about vaccines and infectious diseases among healthworkers must increase especially tailored towards the use of internet and social media. Physicians should be made aware that through time and empathy towards their patients they could have a positive impact on undecided patients and parents regarding vaccine decisions.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/1/e077411.full |
| spellingShingle | Ruth Kutalek Elena Jirovsky-Platter Silvia Wojczewski Katja M Leitner Kathryn Hoffmann Vaccine hesitancy among physicians: a qualitative study with general practitioners and paediatricians in Austria and Germany BMJ Open |
| title | Vaccine hesitancy among physicians: a qualitative study with general practitioners and paediatricians in Austria and Germany |
| title_full | Vaccine hesitancy among physicians: a qualitative study with general practitioners and paediatricians in Austria and Germany |
| title_fullStr | Vaccine hesitancy among physicians: a qualitative study with general practitioners and paediatricians in Austria and Germany |
| title_full_unstemmed | Vaccine hesitancy among physicians: a qualitative study with general practitioners and paediatricians in Austria and Germany |
| title_short | Vaccine hesitancy among physicians: a qualitative study with general practitioners and paediatricians in Austria and Germany |
| title_sort | vaccine hesitancy among physicians a qualitative study with general practitioners and paediatricians in austria and germany |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/14/1/e077411.full |
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