A typology of beliefs and misperceptions about the influenza disease and vaccine among older adults in Singapore

PLoS One. 2020 May 6;15(5):e0232472. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0232472. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Access to the influenza vaccine pose little barriers in developed countries such as Singapore and vaccination against influenza is highly recommended for at-risk populations including older adults. However, vaccination rates are much lower than recommended despite the significant morbidity and mortality associated with the disease among this vulnerable population. Given timely goals to increase vaccine acceptance and uptake, we explored Singaporean older adults' misperceptions about influenza disease and vaccine. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted among 76 Singaporean adults aged 65 and above with no focus on a specific area in Singapore. Data were analyzed with grounded theory methods to understand participants' attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge. We developed in vivo codes that reflect the verbiage used by participants and exhaustively catalogued themes through a constant comparison coding method. Focusing specifically on older adults' misperceptions, seven main themes about influenza disease or vaccine emerged from our data analysis: familiarity with influenza, misperceptions about influenza, personal susceptibility to influenza, familiarity with the influenza vaccine, misperceptions about the influenza vaccine, misperceptions about influenza vaccine usage, and opinions about and barriers to influenza vaccine uptake. Notably, there is a lack of adequate knowledge and motivation in vaccinating against influenza among older adults in Singapore. Health communication needs to be more tailored toward older adults' message processing systems and engage health professionals' involvement in addressing the influenza disease and vaccine misperceptions identified in this study.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Disease Susceptibility / psychology
  • Female
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
  • Humans
  • Influenza Vaccines / pharmacology*
  • Influenza, Human / epidemiology
  • Influenza, Human / prevention & control*
  • Influenza, Human / psychology
  • Male
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care / psychology*
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care / statistics & numerical data
  • Singapore / epidemiology
  • Vaccination / psychology*
  • Vaccination / statistics & numerical data

Substances

  • Influenza Vaccines

Grants and funding

CLC: This work was supported by the Ageing Research Institute for Society and Education at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (M4082069.060). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.