New Views on a ‘Stuck’ Issue: Communicating about Childhood Immunisation in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

This article explores attitudes towards immunisation and immunisation communication materials among parents and caregivers currently facing immunisation decisions in Aotearoa New Zealand. The research aimed to discover, from an open-ended qualitative investigation, new ways to conceptualise and explain immunisation decision-making, and identify participants' own views on approaches worth trialling as ways to increase immunisation rates. The research used communication artefacts as talking points, and an action research process to modify these to reflect participants' design suggestions, but was primarily exploratory. It started a broad conversation with participants about their decision-making influences rather than being designed to test any particular attributes of the immunisation communication process. From a qualitative analysis of transcripts of focus-group and in-depth interviews with 107 immunisation decision-makers, themes were drawn. Applying an emic process enabled identification of participants' own ideas that have now broadened the range of possible approaches currently being considered for immunisation communication in Aotearoa New Zealand. Given that immunisation decline is a problem internationally, these participant-driven ideas may also be worth testing in other contexts.