Vaccine beliefs of complementary and alternative medical (CAM) providers in Oregon

Graduation date: 2014Health care providers, including complementary and alternative medical (CAM)\ud practitioners, exert a significant influence on parental pediatric vaccination decisions.\ud Use of CAM therapies is increasing in Oregon. Concomitantly, there has been a\ud decade-long increase in parental vaccine refusal in Oregon, rising from 1 to 5 percent\ud from 2000-2009. For example, in some Oregon schools, 70% of children are\ud unvaccinated. I conducted hour-long interviews with 36 practitioners from five CAM\ud modalities (i.e., acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy, midwifery, and naturopathy)\ud to explore a range of associations between vaccination perceptions and vaccine\ud recommendations to others. Data collected from the semi-structured interviews were\ud sorted and analyzed by themes. Perceived susceptibility to and severity of either an\ud illness or a vaccine as well as perceptions of vaccine efficacy, benefits, and risks\ud influenced CAM provider vaccine recommendations to parents about vaccinating\ud their children. The contextual factors of immunology beliefs, personal experience,\ud reference group norms, and beliefs about industry and government were found to a\ud lesser extent to influence whether a CAM provider promoted or opposed pediatric\ud vaccination. The results of this research suggest possible interventions aimed at\ud improving scientific knowledge of vaccine science as well as addressing hesitancy to\ud vaccinate. These interventions could include communicating the relative risk of\ud vaccinations; providing training for mainstream medical providers in empathic\ud communication with patients and avoiding a directive, fact-laden model; and\ud developing a layered approach to vaccine education, with specific content aimed at\ud separate populations, including health care providers, journalists, policy makers,\ud parents, educators, and children