Provider-parent Communication When Discussing Vaccines: A Systematic Review

Problem: Expert literature on communication practices with vaccine hesitant parents posits that a non-confrontational/participatory discussion with the parent would be the best approach to improve compliance. A prior literature review found limited evidence to recommend any particular face to face intervention other than to incorporate communication about vaccination effectiveness during an encounter. Hence, a systematic review was performed in an attempt to determine the most efficacious communication practices to use with parents with vaccination concerns.

Eligibility Criteria: Quantitative and qualitative studies written in English that assessed the communication framework/style of the provider-parent interaction and studies where provider communication was listed as an intervention were reviewed.

Sample: Nine articles were included in the sample.

Results: The majority of the studies were descriptive and qualitative in nature with only one randomized controlled trial. Five of the 9 studies utilized a descriptive cross-sectional design. Two main themes included message types recommended or given by the provider and message types that were requested by the parent.

Conclusions: Overall, findings showed that there is currently not enough information to definitively state the type of provider-parent communication style that should be employed to affect the parents' vaccination viewpoint. However, recurring themes of trust in the provider and a personalized provider-parent interaction were evident, which promotes a participatory type of interaction.

Implications: The literature indirectly supports providers engaging with vaccine hesitant parents in a more individualized, participatory format, though higher quality and more rigorous studies that focus specifically on provider-parent communication practices are needed.