Seasonal influenza vaccine hesitancy in ethnically diverse groups.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding and responding to influenza vaccine hesitancy in ethnically diverse and marginalised groups in the UK.
IRAS ID
334970
Contact name
Catharine Montgomery
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Liverpool John Moores University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 30 days
Research summary
Both the World Health Organisation and United Nations agencies have called for research on vaccine hesitancy among ethnically diverse populations (WHO, 2014; Tankwanchi et al., 2019). It is known that cultural and religious factors (e.g., uncertainty around necessity, perceptions of good health, halal status of vaccines) inhibit their engagement with, and uptake of, influenza vaccination programmes, but at present there are no targeted interventions tailored to the UK ethnically diverse and marginalised populations.
This study will focus on understanding ethnically diverse patients’ experiences of the winter influenza health crisis: their navigation of health services; health literacies around influenza vaccination; and vaccination hesitancy, decision-making, consent, acceptance, and uptake. The study will also include a comparative focus on the perspectives of professional health stakeholders and healthcare providers of these groups, to improve our understanding around flu vaccine health literacies, appropriate messaging and healthcare provision for ethnically diverse communities of all genders and ages, efforts to tackle institutional mistrust and increase vaccine acceptance, and methods to optimise culturally appropriate influenza vaccination pathways. Semi-structured interviews with members of ethnically diverse communities in various primary care settings will explore these objectives. Interviews will also be conducted with national and regional health policy professional stakeholders and healthcare providers locally and nationally to better understand the challenges and complexities encountered by healthcare staff (vaccinators, clinicians) in supporting the needs of ethnically diverse groups. Themes raised by these interviews will then be addressed using behaviour change techniques to create public health messaging and interventions. Messaging and intervention content will be triangulated and revised in response to focus groups with the returning patients, healthcare staff and policy professionals who will give their opinions on feasibility and acceptability.
REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/NE/0232
Date of REC Opinion
15 Jan 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion