Description
Most interventions aiming at changing vaccination behavior treat decision makers as passive receivers of information. In contrast, evidence shows that active engagement with information has a greater effect on vaccination intention. We explore information search as a tool for decision makers and the impact it has on knowledge and on the vaccination decision itself. This pre-registered study tested a newly developed paradigm in which search behavior is directly observed and quantitatively measured, while integrating an interactive and incentivized vaccination game. In addition to the information seeking behavior itself, participants' vaccination attitudes and perceived knowledge were assessed.Using an online sample of 381 participants, we demonstrated that seeking information before making a vaccination decision reliably increases knowledge. The more participants searched, the higher was the perceived knowledge afterwards. Furthermore, the experiment showed that among participants who opted for vaccination, vaccination attitudes and perceived knowledge were positively correlated. This correlation was negative for individuals who decided against vaccination, suggesting that perceived knowledge could have a major impact on vaccination decisions and that people with negative attitudes toward vaccination are convinced of their most likely incorrect knowledge.
The results show that information seeking can be an important tool for individuals facing a vaccination decision. It becomes clear that a distinction must be made between individuals with different levels of vaccination attitudes. The experiment and the paradigm tested in it provide the basis for studying information-seeking behavior prior to a vaccination decision and for testing interventions targeting the active seeking behavior of participants.
| Period | 7 Sept 2023 |
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| Event title | 37th Annual Conference of the European Health Psychology Society |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Bremen, GermanyShow on map |