Parents’ perceptions of influenza and why they accept or decline the nasal vaccine for their child
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Parents’ perceptions of influenza and why they accept or decline the nasal vaccine for their child

Phoebe Moulsdale Clinical research nurse and allergy clinical nurse specialist, clinical nurse specialist in immunology, Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, Bristol, England
Aimee Grant Research associate, Cardiff University, Wales
Margaret Fletcher Professor of clinical nursing, University of the West of England, Bristol, England
Adam Finn Professor of Paediatrics, University of Bristol, England
Background

Nasal influenza vaccine is offered each year to all children from age two to higher age groups. There is little UK research on whether parents support this vaccination programme.

Aim

The aim of this study was to explore parents' perceptions of influenza as an illness in children and why they decide to accept or decline nasal influenza vaccine for their child.

Method

A survey was first distributed to parents via a single primary school. Ten parents were then sampled in semi-structured interviews. From the survey, 91% (n = 78) of the parents favoured routine vaccinations but only 47% (n = 40) were supportive of nasal influenza vaccination.

Findings

From the interviews, reasons highlighted for accepting or declining the vaccine concerned the importance of trust, community responsibility, controllability and the perception of risk.

Conclusion

Parents who typically support vaccination may doubt the necessity of a influenza vaccination for their child. This may reduce uptake and undermine the programme.

Nursing Children and Young People. 29, 3, 28-33. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.2017.e854

Correspondence

phoebe.moulsdale@nhs.net

Peer review

This article has been subject to open peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Conflict of interest

None declared

Received: 16 September 2016

Accepted: 04 January 2017

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