NSF-SSRC: Sociodemographic Influences on Vaccine Decision-Making

医疗保健决策，包括接种疫苗的决定，是复杂的文化、社会和心理相互作用的融合，包括对风险的感知、对医疗保健的信任、当地相关的行为规范和社会学习。了解疫苗决策的两个驱动因素对于减轻疾病负担和增加疫苗接种率至关重要。特别是，服务不足的社区需要做更多的工作，这些社区往往具有不成比例的脆弱性和疾病负担。除了对公共卫生和公共政策的潜在影响外，本研究还有助于培养多样化的研究生和本科生群体，包括通常在STEM研究中代表性不足的群体。本研究采用多模式方法来研究卫生保健决策，特别是围绕疫苗的接受和吸收。该团队研究：(1)当地疾病模型如何影响疫苗接种实践，(2)个人层面的因素，包括医疗不信任，如何影响感知和医疗保健系统的使用，(3)社会人口因素如何影响疫苗信念，以及(4)社会学习如何影响个人疫苗接种决策。为了做到这一点，该团队使用了访谈，调查和焦点小组的组合，以及专门为本研究设计的创新小插曲研究。这种理解疫苗接种的多层次方法在健康科学中是罕见的，应该突出人类学方法对疫苗接种研究的价值。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Healthcare decisions, including decisions to vaccinate, are an amalgamation of complex cultural, social, and psychological interactions, including perceptions of risk, trust in healthcare, locally relevant norms of behavior, and social learning. Understanding both the drivers of vaccine decision making is crucial to alleviating the burden of disease and increasing vaccine uptake. In particular, more work is needed from underserved communities, which tend to have disproportionate vulnerabilities and disease burden. In addition to potential impacts on public health and public policy, this study facilitates training of a diverse group of graduate and undergraduate students, including groups typically underrepresented in STEM research.This study takes a multi-modal approach to studying health care decision-making, particularly around the acceptance and uptake of vaccines. The team examines: (1) how local models of illness shape vaccination practice, (2) how individual-level factors, including medical mistrust, shape perceptions and use of the healthcare system, (3) how sociodemographic factors shape vaccine beliefs, and (4) how social learning influences individual vaccination decisions. To do this the team uses a mix of interviews, surveys and focus groups, along with innovative vignette studies designed specifically for this study. This multi-layered approach to understanding vaccination is rare in health sciences, and should highlight the value of an anthropological approach to the study of vaccination.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.