Saudi Cultural Missions Theses & Dissertations
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Item Restricted Vaccine hesitancy, social media, and parents’ attitudes towards childhood vaccination: A comparative study of Australian and Saudi populations.(Western Sydney University, 2024-07-27) Alsulami, Khalid; Archee, Raymond; Gurney, MyraParents’ hesitancy to vaccinate their children presents an increasing health risk globally, though public health campaigns can be effective if they address relevant underlying beliefs within a target population. The purpose of this study was to explore and compare Australian and Saudi parents’ attitudes and beliefs about childhood vaccinations, to better understand factors underlying vaccine hesitancy and the role of mediated communication in forming these views. There were two lines of investigation. A self-report survey was distributed to Australian and Saudi parents from 2020–2022 to directly assess their attitudes and beliefs about vaccination. The survey approach was supplemented with a broad search of Twitter for vaccine-related content across Australia and Saudi Arabia from 2018–2021. Qualitative analysis of this content was used to identify themes and concepts to summarise the various perspectives and mediated communications about vaccination. Results showed that different attitudes and beliefs about vaccination were typically held in each country, with Australians generally more positive about vaccinations than Saudis. Findings suggest higher vaccine hesitancy in Saudi Arabia, with different underlying factors and sources relied upon for information. Australians were more likely to rely on their doctor for advice, while Saudis relied more on self-directed sources such as books and social media. Australians were more concerned about vaccine-preventable illnesses, whereas Saudis were more concerned about negative effects of vaccines themselves and were more likely to delay vaccinating their child. Analysis of Twitter content showed that the platform was used extensively to communicate about childhood vaccination in both countries, and that both governments used Twitter to provide health advice. Australians expressed individualist perspectives, with more focus on personal choice, vaccine science, and questioning the influence of the media. Saudis focused more on collectivist themes such as religion and society itself. Together, the two approaches contribute to our understanding of the factors underlying parents’ vaccine hesitancy in Australia and Saudi Arabia. Implications of these findings were discussed in the context of the literature and suggestions were proffered for future research.37 0