Prevalence of parental concerns about childhood vaccines the experience of primary care physicians.

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Prevalence of parental concerns about childhood vaccines the

experience of primary care physicians.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21496754>

Kempe A, Daley MF, McCauley MM, Crane LA, Suh CA, Kennedy AM, Basket MM,

Stokley SK, Dong F, Babbel CI, Seewald LA, Dickinson LM.

Am J Prev Med. 2011 May;40(5):548-55.

" Kempe, MD MPH "

" L Miriam Dickinson, PhD "

BACKGROUND:

Little is known about the effects of increased parental vaccine safety

concerns on physicians' vaccine communication attitudes and practices.

PURPOSE:

To assess among pediatricians and family medicine (FM) physicians: (1)

prevalence of parental requests to deviate from recommended vaccine

schedules; (2) responses to such requests; and (3) attitudes about the

burden and success of vaccine communications with parents.

METHODS:

Survey of nationally representative samples of pediatricians and FM

physicians (N=696) conducted during February to May 2009 with analysis

in 2010.

RESULTS:

Response rates were 88% for pediatricians and 78% for FM physicians.

Overall, 8% of physicians reported that ?10% of parents refused a

vaccine and 20% reported that ?10% of parents requested to spread out

vaccines in a typical month. More pediatricians than FM physicians

reported always/often requiring parents to sign a form if they refused

vaccination (53% vs 31%, p<0.0001); 64% of all physicians would agree to

spread out vaccines in the primary series at least sometimes. When

talking with parents with substantial concerns, 53% of physicians

reported spending 10-19 minutes and 8% spending ?20 minutes.

Pediatricians were more likely than FM physicians to report their job

less satisfying because of parental vaccine concerns (46% vs 21%,

p<0.0001). Messages most commonly reported as " very effective " were

personal statements such as what they would do for their own children.

CONCLUSIONS:

The burden of communicating with parents about vaccines is high,

especially among pediatricians. Physicians report the greatest success

convincing skeptical parents using messages that rely on their personal

choices and experiences.

Copyright © 2011 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by

Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

> **

> *CU med study: Parents grow more wary of vaccination safety April 28,

> 2011*

>

http://www.aurorasentinel.com/email_push/news/article_9107cb5a-7111-11e0-b6cd-00\

1cc4c002e0.html

>

>

> /According to research data released by School of Medicine pediatrics

> professor Kempe, a significant number of parents are refusing

> vaccinations from physicians. The study, titled " Prevalence of

> Parental Concerns about Childhood Vaccines: The Experience of Primary

> Care Physicians " appeared in the American Journal of Preventive

> Medicine earlier this month./

>

> //

>

> /Specifically, the study showed that 79 percent of physicians report

> at least one vaccine refusal in a typical month. What's more, 8

> percent of the physicians in the study reported refusals for more than

> 10 percent of children; 89 percent reported requests from parents to

> stretch the administration of vaccines over a long period of time./

>