“Nature Does Things Well, Why Should We Interfere?”: Vaccine Hesitancy Among Mothers
Abstract
Parents’ decision to use vaccination services is complex and multi-factorial. Of particular interest are “vaccine-hesitant” parents who are in the middle of the continuum between vaccine acceptance and refusal. The objective of this qualitative longitudinal study was to better understand why mothers choose to vaccinate—or not—their newborns. Fifty-six pregnant mothers living in different areas of Quebec (Canada) were interviewed. These interviews gathered information on mothers’ views about health and vaccination. Almost half of the mothers were categorized as vaccine-hesitant. A second interview was conducted with these mothers 3 to 11 months after birth to look at their actual decision and behavior concerning vaccination. Our results show the heterogeneity of factors influencing vaccine decision making. Although the majority of vaccine-hesitant mothers finally chose to follow the recommended vaccine schedule for their child, they were still ambivalent and they continued to question their decision.
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Use of saturation to indicate ability to extrapolate or generalisation could indicate confusion about the meaning and purpose of saturation.
“The use of saturation in these two cases could perhaps indicate a degree of confusion in some studies about the meaning of saturation and its purpose”
From Saturation in qualitative research: exploring its conceptualization and operationalization (2018) · cites this paper as Dubé et al. (2016)
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Saturation in qualitative research: exploring its conceptualization and operationalization
Saunders, B., Sim, J., Kingstone, T., Baker, S., Waterfield, J., Bartlam, B., Burroughs, H., & Jinks, C. (2018) · Quality & Quantity · doi:10.1007/s11135-017-0574-8 · Cited by 12,033 · see citing works
“Dubé et al. (2016) suggest that saturation says something about (though not conclusively) the ability to extrapolate findings, and Boddy (2016: p. 428) claims that ‘once saturation is reached, the results must be capable of some degree of generalisation’; this seems to move us away from the notion…”
BackgroundEdwards, K. M., Hackell, J. M., THE COMMITTEE ON INFECTIOUS DISEASES, T. C. O. P. A. A. M., Byington, C. L., Maldonado, Y. A., Barnett, E. D., Davies, H. D., Edwards, K. M., Lynfield, R., Munoz, F. M., et al. (2016) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2016-2146 · Cited by 302 · see citing works
- Authors
- Dubé, E., Vivion, M., Sauvageau, C., Gagneur, A., Gagnon, R., & Guay, M.
- Affiliations
- Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec, Québec City, Québec, Canada
- Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec (CA)
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Sherbrooke (CA)
- Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (CA)
- Université de Sherbrooke (CA)
- Venue
- Qualitative Health Research
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2015-02-23
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 411-425
- ISSN
- 1049-7323 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7557
- OpenAlex
- W2091327588
- Cited by
- 170
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 12.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Qualitative Health Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Université Laval
- Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (115012_1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric Healthcare
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Risk Perception and Management
- Keywords
- vaccine hesitancy, childhood immunization, vaccine decision-making, neonatal vaccination, vaccine refusal, vaccine acceptance, pregnant women, ambivalence, vaccine schedule adherence
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Decision Making, Female, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Longitudinal Studies, Middle Aged, Mothers, Quebec, Surveys and Questionnaires, Vaccination, Qualitative Research, Young Adult
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