NSF-SSRC: Sociodemographic Influences on Vaccine Decision-Making

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.