Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Cologne and University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
Department of Pediatrics, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany.
Patient Educ Couns. 2025 Jan;130:108476. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2024.108476. Epub 2024 Oct 16.
This study aims to understand the perspectives of young people towards their Covid-19 vaccination and their involvement in the decision-making process.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 children and adolescents (aged 8-19 years), who attended a school in Germany during the pandemic. Interviews were explored with structured and evaluative content-analysis.
Five overarching themes were identified: 1) Motivators for vaccination: protection against Covid-19, secondary societal benefits and positive experience of peers 2) Barriers to vaccination: perceived lack of risk for severe disease 3) Participation in the decision-making process: mostly adult-initiated shared decisions 4) Role of vaccination status at school: issues of marginalization and stigmatization 5) Wishes to adults and politicians: need for better information CONCLUSION: Involving children at a high level of participation while taking into account their individual maturity could be a favourable strategy in a family`s decision-making process regarding vaccination. Expectations from peers or parents and societal benefits as primary incentive to get vaccinated should be minimized during the decision-process.
Our study highlights the need to include young people`s perspectives in vaccine research, -development and -education campaigns. Future research should develop instruments to structurally embed and promote children and youth participation in healthcare-related decisions.
本研究旨在了解年轻人对新冠疫苗接种的看法，以及他们在决策过程中的参与程度。
对德国一所学校的 25 名 8-19 岁的儿童和青少年进行了半结构式访谈。采用结构化和评价性内容分析法对访谈进行了探讨。
确定了五个总体主题：1）接种疫苗的动机：预防新冠病毒、次要的社会效益和同伴的积极体验；2）接种疫苗的障碍：认为自己患重病的风险低；3）参与决策过程：大多数是成人发起的共同决策；4）疫苗接种状况在学校的作用：边缘化和污名化问题；5）对成人和政治家的愿望：需要更好的信息。
在考虑到家庭决策过程中儿童个体成熟度的情况下，让儿童高度参与决策是一种有利的策略。在决策过程中，应尽量减少因同伴或父母的期望或因接种疫苗而产生的社会效益成为主要接种动机。
本研究强调了在疫苗研究、开发和教育活动中纳入年轻人观点的必要性。未来的研究应开发工具，在结构上嵌入和促进儿童和青年参与与医疗保健相关的决策。
