Vaccine Information Sources and Parental Trust in Their Child’s Health Care Provider

Abstract

Background. Parental trust in their child’s health care provider and the number and type of vaccine information sources are important dimensions of vaccine hesitancy and may suggest intervention components for future research. Method. We conducted secondary analysis of survey data from mothers of healthy newborns in Washington State, and examined the association between parental trust in their child’s health care provider and vaccine information sources. Results. We found that mothers with less trust in their child’s health care provider used more sources, more informal sources, and were less likely to consider their child’s pediatrician their main source of vaccine information compared with more trusting mothers. However, less trusting mothers did not report more effort to read or watch stories about vaccines than more trusting mothers, nor were they more likely to report the internet as their main vaccine information source. Conclusions. Future interventions seeking to reduce parental vaccine hesitancy should consider intervention components focused on building or improving parent trust in their child’s health care provider.