A values-tailored web-based intervention for new mothers to increase infant vaccine uptake: Development and qualitative study

Background: Vaccine hesitancy among parents leads to childhood undervaccination and outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease. As the reasons for vaccine hesitancy are diverse, there is often not enough time during regular clinical visits for medical providers to adequately address all the concerns that parents have. Providing individually tailored vaccine information via the internet before a clinical visit may be a good mechanism for effectively allaying parents’ vaccination concerns while also being time efficient. Including tailoring based on values is a promising, but untested, approach to message creation. Objective: This study aimed to describe the process by which we developed a Web-based intervention that is being used in an ongoing randomized controlled trial aimed at improving the timeliness of infant vaccination by reducing parental vaccine hesitancy. Methods: Development of the intervention incorporated evidence-based health behavior theories. A series of interviews, surveys, and feedback sessions were used to iteratively develop the intervention in collaboration with vaccination experts and potential end users. Results: In all, 41 specific content areas were identified to be included in the intervention. User feedback elucidated preferences for specific design elements to be incorporated throughout the website. The tile-based architecture chosen for the website was perceived as easy to use. Creating messages that were two-sided was generally preferred over other message formats. Quantitative surveys identified associations between specific vaccine values and vaccination beliefs, suggesting that values tailoring should vary, depending on the specific belief being endorsed. Conclusions: Using health behavior theories, qualitative and quantitative data, and significant expert and end user input, we created a novel, Web-based intervention to improve infant vaccination timeliness. The intervention is based on tailoring messages according to each individual’s values and beliefs. This intervention is currently being tested in a controlled randomized clinical trial.