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      The Effects of Anti-Vaccine Conspiracy Theories on Vaccination Intentions

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      Author(s): * , *
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      Publication date (Electronic):
      Journal: PLoS ONE
      Publisher: Public Library of Science

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          Abstract

          The current studies investigated the potential impact of anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs, and exposure to anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, on vaccination intentions. In Study 1, British parents completed a questionnaire measuring beliefs in anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and the likelihood that they would have a fictitious child vaccinated. Results revealed a significant negative relationship between anti-vaccine conspiracy beliefs and vaccination intentions. This effect was mediated by the perceived dangers of vaccines, and feelings of powerlessness, disillusionment and mistrust in authorities. In Study 2, participants were exposed to information that either supported or refuted anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, or a control condition. Results revealed that participants who had been exposed to material supporting anti-vaccine conspiracy theories showed less intention to vaccinate than those in the anti-conspiracy condition or controls. This effect was mediated by the same variables as in Study 1. These findings point to the potentially detrimental consequences of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, and highlight their potential role in shaping health-related behaviors.

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          Effects of a narrative HPV vaccination intervention aimed at reaching college women: a randomized controlled trial.

          S M Hopfer (2012)
          This longitudinal study reports on the development and evaluation of a narrative intervention aimed at increasing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among college women. The prevention of HPV is a public health priority due to its pervasiveness and relationship to cervical cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide. Pilot work utilizing culture-centric narrative theory guided development of the intervention content. Exemplification theory led to hypotheses comparing communication sources of the narrative messages (peer only, medical expert only, or a combination of the two source types) in a four-arm randomized controlled trial (N = 404; 18-26 year olds). The combined peer-expert narrative intervention nearly doubled vaccination compared to controls (22% vs. 12%). The pragmatic goal of increasing HPV vaccination and the theoretical predictions about message source were supported. As predicted, the inclusion of peer and medical expert sources plays a critical role in promoting HPV vaccination among college women. Furthermore, the intervention increased HPV vaccination by increasing vaccine self-efficacy and intent. Theoretical and practical implications for designing effective HPV vaccine messages are discussed.
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            The MMR vaccination and autism controversy in United Kingdom 1998-2005: inevitable community outrage or a failure of risk communication?

            Julie Leask, Neil D. Burgess, Nazma A. Burgess (2006)
            The report of an hypothesised link between measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination and autism in 1998 became a major public health issue in the United Kingdom (UK), leaving most experts surprised by the overwhelming influence it had on public opinion about MMR vaccination. Coverage rates fell dramatically, and did not start to recover until 2004. Could this public reaction have been predicted? We used Sandman's model of components predicting community outrage to assess the MMR controversy. The controversy fulfilled all of Sandman's 12 primary components and six of the eight additional components. The Sandman model provided a useful framework to analyse this controversy and explained a significant portion of the community reaction and subsequent fall in vaccination coverage rates.
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              HIV/AIDS-related institutional mistrust among multiethnic men who have sex with men: effects on HIV testing and risk behaviors.

              C Nemeroff, Judith Huebner, Daniel L Rubin … (2012)
              To investigate relationships between institutional mistrust (systematic discrimination, organizational suspicion, and conspiracy beliefs), HIV risk behaviors, and HIV testing in a multiethnic sample of men who have sex with men (MSM), and to test whether perceived susceptibility to HIV mediates these relationships for White and ethnic minority MSM. Participants were 394 MSM residing in Central Arizona (M age = 37 years). Three dimensions of mistrust were examined, including organizational suspicion, conspiracy beliefs, and systematic discrimination. Assessments of sexual risk behavior, HIV testing, and perceived susceptibility to HIV were made at study entry (T1) and again 6 months later (T2). There were no main effects of institutional mistrust dimensions or ethnic minority status on T2 risk behavior, but the interaction of systematic discrimination and conspiracy beliefs with minority status was significant such that higher levels of systematic discrimination and more conspiracy beliefs were associated with increased risk only among ethnic minority MSM. Higher levels of systematic discrimination were significantly related to lower likelihood for HIV testing, and the interaction of organizational suspicion with minority status was significant such that greater levels of organizational suspicion were related to less likelihood of having been tested for HIV among ethnic minority MSM. Perceived susceptibility did not mediate these relationships. Findings suggest that it is important to look further into the differential effects of institutional mistrust across marginalized groups, including sexual and ethnic minorities. Aspects of mistrust should be addressed in HIV prevention and counseling efforts.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Ralph Tripp: Role: Editor
                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): PLoS One
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): PLoS ONE
                Journal ID (publisher-id): plos
                Journal ID (pmc): plosone
                Title: PLoS ONE
                Publisher: Public Library of Science (San Francisco, USA )
                ISSN (Electronic): 1932-6203
                Publication date Collection: 2014
                Publication date (Electronic): 20 February 2014
                Volume: 9
                Issue: 2
                Electronic Location Identifier: e89177
                Affiliations
                [1]School of Psychology, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom
                University of Georgia, United States of America
                Author notes

                Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

                Conceived and designed the experiments: DJ KMD. Performed the experiments: DJ. Analyzed the data: DJ. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: DJ KMD. Wrote the paper: DJ KMD.

                Article
                Publisher ID: PONE-D-13-38770
                DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089177
                PMC ID: 3930676
                PubMed ID: 24586574
                SO-VID: 22a355b9-81af-4407-8233-b66446d563ad
                Copyright statement: Copyright @ 2014
                License:

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                Date received : 17 September 2013
                Date accepted : 20 December 2013
                Page count
                Pages: 9
                Funding
                The authors have no support or funding to report.
                Categories
                Subject: Research Article
                Subject: Medicine
                Subject: Clinical immunology
                Subject: Immunity
                Subject: Vaccination
                Subject: Mental health
                Subject: Psychology
                Subject: Behavior
                Subject: Social psychology
                Subject: Public health
                Subject: Behavioral and social aspects of health
                Subject: Immunizations
                Subject: Social and behavioral sciences
                Subject: Psychology
                Subject: Behavior
                Subject: Social psychology

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Uncategorized
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Uncategorized

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