Thursday, 13 July 2023
A team of social scientists from the University of Nottingham are launching an online tool to help healthcare professionals have better conversations with parents who may be hesitant to have their children vaccinated.
Funded by the European Union, the tool has been created as part of an €2.9 million international research project called VAX-TRUST.
Researchers from the Faculty of Social Sciences collected data from healthcare professionals and from parents of pre-school children living in the East Midlands who may be hesitant about vaccination.
Findings were then used to create an online tool called a Reusable Learning Object (RLO), developed in conjunction with the Health and E-Learning Media (HELM) team at the University of Nottingham.
The new tool allows the user to listen to an audio-clip of three different parents, and then work through some short tasks to help them explore the varied factors behind vaccine hesitancy, using their own professional experiences. The tool then includes some key learning points, based on findings from the VAX-TRUST project, and from existing social science research into vaccine hesitancy.
The aim of VAX-TRUST is to improve awareness of the complex social and sociological underpinnings of vaccine hesitancy. By providing a dedicated opportunity within this RLO for reflection on hesitancy, we hope that healthcare professionals will feel more equipped for engaging in conversations about vaccines.”
Pru Hobson-West, Professor of Science, Medicine and Society, said: ‘Vaccination is a complex and sensitive topic for some, and relates to big questions including trust in science and medicine. We hope that busy doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals will find the online tool useful, as a starting point for thinking through their own experiences of vaccination’.
The resource is free and can be accessed by healthcare professionals online here. Users are encouraged to leave feedback to help with the development of future resources.
More information about the VAX-TRUST project at Nottingham can be found online at: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/vax-trust/
Information about the wider VAX-TRUST European project can be found here: https://vax-trust.eu/
Story credits
More information is available from Pru Hobson-West, in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Nottingham at Pru.Hobson-west@nottingham.ac.uk
Faith Pring - Media Relations Manager
Email: faith.pring@nottingham.ac.uk
Phone: 0115 748 4411
Location: University of Nottingham, University Park
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
More news…