Article type
Year
Abstract
Background:
A Global Polio Eradication Initiative report recently stated, "communication is everybody's business." Health communication encompasses a broad range of interventions beyond informing or educating. It includes advocacy, social mobilisation, health literacy and interpersonal communication, operating at societal and individual levels. Effective communication with parents and communities is critical to improving global vaccination coverage. To implement communication interventions about childhood vaccination, decision makers need to know what works. Currently, vaccination communication interventions are assessed using a variety of outcomes, making it difficult to compare intervention effectiveness across studies. Important process outcomes (e.g. knowledge, decisional conflict) are often not measured. To improve the evidence base and help decision makers focus their energy and scarce resources, we will develop a taxonomy of vaccination communication outcomes. This taxonomy will illustrate the range of potential outcomes and inform future work to define a core outcomes set.
Methods:
1: We will search electronic databases for studies evaluating communication interventions directed to parents or communities about childhood vaccines. We will extract and code outcomes using content analysis and categorise the outcomes into a taxonomy, building on existing frameworks.
2: To gather feedback on the taxonomy's completeness and appropriateness, we will convene a consultation panel of researchers, policy makers, health professionals and experts in program delivery and evaluation. Using focus group methodology, the panel will provide feedback and discuss outcome prioritisation and causal pathways. Transcripts will be analysed thematically and the results will inform the taxonomy finalisation and subsequent development of the core outcomes set.
Conclusions:
This taxonomy will illustrate the range of potential outcomes and form the basis of a consultation to establish a core outcome set, encouraging consistent outcome measurement and selection by trialists and systematic reviewers. It may also guide the development of intervention logic models.
A Global Polio Eradication Initiative report recently stated, "communication is everybody's business." Health communication encompasses a broad range of interventions beyond informing or educating. It includes advocacy, social mobilisation, health literacy and interpersonal communication, operating at societal and individual levels. Effective communication with parents and communities is critical to improving global vaccination coverage. To implement communication interventions about childhood vaccination, decision makers need to know what works. Currently, vaccination communication interventions are assessed using a variety of outcomes, making it difficult to compare intervention effectiveness across studies. Important process outcomes (e.g. knowledge, decisional conflict) are often not measured. To improve the evidence base and help decision makers focus their energy and scarce resources, we will develop a taxonomy of vaccination communication outcomes. This taxonomy will illustrate the range of potential outcomes and inform future work to define a core outcomes set.
Methods:
1: We will search electronic databases for studies evaluating communication interventions directed to parents or communities about childhood vaccines. We will extract and code outcomes using content analysis and categorise the outcomes into a taxonomy, building on existing frameworks.
2: To gather feedback on the taxonomy's completeness and appropriateness, we will convene a consultation panel of researchers, policy makers, health professionals and experts in program delivery and evaluation. Using focus group methodology, the panel will provide feedback and discuss outcome prioritisation and causal pathways. Transcripts will be analysed thematically and the results will inform the taxonomy finalisation and subsequent development of the core outcomes set.
Conclusions:
This taxonomy will illustrate the range of potential outcomes and form the basis of a consultation to establish a core outcome set, encouraging consistent outcome measurement and selection by trialists and systematic reviewers. It may also guide the development of intervention logic models.