BEND, Ore. – Vaccine-hesitant adults were more likely to consider getting a COVID-19 vaccine when public health messages acknowledged distrust of government and affirmed values such as personal liberty, a new study found.
Researchers at Oregon State University-Cascades developed vaccination messages tailored to values commonly held by vaccine-hesitant individuals – those that delay accepting or refuse vaccinations despite them being available – and tested them in two online surveys involving 1,170 unvaccinated U.S. adults in spring 2021 as vaccines became widely available.
In the first survey, the proportion of participants who said they would get vaccinated as soon as possible after reading a message that acknowledged distrust of government increased by 16 percentage points. In the second survey, after hearing a message that affirmed the value of personal liberty, the proportion of participants who said they were more likely to get vaccinated increased by nearly 8 percentage points.
The study’s authors, Christopher Wolsko, an associate professor of psychology, and Elizabeth Marino, an associate professor of anthropology, emphasized that the approach is not about persuading people to take a specific action.
“We’re not saying this is a way to get people to take the vaccine, but it is a way to create the conditions for information to be heard and considered,” Wolsko said. “Our background research that led to this article indicates that the experience of distrust is often rooted in personal experiences – like feeling dismissed or discriminated against in a health care setting – rather than exposure to mis- or disinformation.”
Marino said that even a brief acknowledgement that people’s fears and feelings of distrust are valid can completely change the likelihood that the next part of a conversation will go well.
“Especially in today’s highly polarized social environment, we think people are constantly trying to determine whether someone poses a threat,” she said. “When you authentically reduce that threat, they become more open to considering new information.”
The study, published in PLOS One , supports a broader communication strategy that aligns messages with audience values. Marino and Wolsko say the approach applies beyond public health, including efforts to encourage safe firearm storage as a suicide prevention measure, conservation behaviors among climate change skeptics, and more inclusive attitudes toward rural individuals among urban centers of higher education – all areas they have studied.
For the COVID study, the researchers conducted focus groups with vaccine-hesitant adults in early 2021 and identified three recurring concerns for their hesitancy: distrust of institutions, concerns about personal liberty and freedom of choice and a desire to protect and reconnect with family.
From this analysis, they developed four messaging slogans:
They also developed a control message: “First, consider the following information about the COVID-19 vaccines from physicians at the Mayo Clinic and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
Participants were randomly assigned to view one of the value-based slogans in large, bold font or the control message before receiving one page of information from the Mayo Clinic and CDC about COVID-19 vaccines. Researchers measured individuals’ attitudes in a few different ways, including by asking them how likely it was that they would get vaccinated on a six-point scale, ranging from “I will definitely NOT get the vaccine” to “I am certain that I’ll get the vaccine.”
Findings included:
Marino and Wolsko, co-directors of the Laboratory for the American Conversation at OSU-Cascades, caution against viewing the approach as merely a tool of persuasion or manipulation. Their goal is to better understand the values and perceptions of risk that shape public attitudes and, in turn, improve public discourse.
“Our findings suggest that understanding and empathizing with the authentic experiences of vaccine-hesitant individuals can make communication around health policy less defensive, less volatile and more open to new information – for both sides of the issue,” Wolsko said.
PLOS One
Incorporating public values into public health communications: Effects of value affirmations on intentions to vaccinate and trust in the U.S.