The HPV school vaccination program: A discourse analysis of information provided to parents (original) (raw)
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Vaccines: saving lives or depopulating the world? A discourse analysis
Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology – Compaso, 2018
In the present paper, we have analyzed the discourse of four pro and anti-vaccine Facebook pages, in order to understand how the discourse of each party is constructed and to observe the main similarities and differences between them, employing a netnographical approach. Using Netvizz, we have collected data about the three posts with the largest engagement score from each of the four Facebook pages, two being anti, and two pro-vaccine. We have analyzed the discourse of each post in terms of appeal to senses or rationality, types and tone of used language, personal or institutional communication and the appearance of claims in support of alternative medicine, among other indicators. We have noticed that the discourses of pro and anti-vaccine pages have both similarities, the most prominent being the trust / distrust in the health system dichotomy, and differences, best represented by types and sources of argumentation.
Using Rhetorical Situations to Examine and Improve Vaccination Communication
Opinion polls have documented a considerable public skepticism towards a COVID-19 vaccine. Seeking to address the vaccine skepticism challenge this essay surveys the research on vaccine hesitancy and trust building through the lens of the rhetorical situation and points towards five broad principles for a content strategy for public health communicators in regards to vaccination: 1) vaccine hesitancy is not irrational per se; 2) messages should be tailored to the various hesitancy drivers; 3) what is perceived as trustworthy is situational and constantly negotiated; 4) in areas of uncertainty where no exact knowledge exists, the character of the speaker becomes more important; and 5) the trustworthiness of the speaker can be strengthened through finding some common ground-such as shared feelings or accepted premises-with the audience. Such common insights are on offer in the literature on rhetoric and persuasion and linked here with the research on vaccine communication and trust focusing specifically on the latter and character.
The incidence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the 20th century has become a critical matter globally with dire implications if new infections continue at the current rate. Several effective means of reaching populations at risk are currently in place, such as, mass media, the Internet, and direct education. In addition to these methods of prevention and education, the efficacy of using written documents, structured specifically for ethnic groups in the form of flyers and brochures, needs to be tested, determined, and implemented immediately. An Executive Summary released by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in 2006 stated, “HIV prevention programmes are failing to reach those at greatest risk. Efforts to increase HIV knowledge among young people remain inadequate” (UNAIDS, 2006). A most disturbing acknowledgement considering the millions of dollars spent on HIV/AIDS education and prevention annually in the United States. Much like the UNAIDS report, If the fastest growing number of HIV infections are among African American adolescents, this group urgently needs printed materials that are both readable and easy to comprehend. “Health information tailored to user sociodemographic characteristic or health behavior models may be more effective than non-tailored health information (Ito, Kalyanaraman, Ford, Brown & Miller (2008) citing Owen, Fotheringham & Marcus, 2002). I believe if HIV/AIDS information in flyers and brochures, incorporates culturally appropriate wording, at-risk youth will experience greater comprehension of the information that is being presented; as opposed to HIV/AIDS information presented in flyers and brochures written in an inform only format, without culturally appropriate wording.
Communicating Care: The Contradictions of HPV Vaccination Campaigns
This dissertation examines three state-funded human papillomavirus (HPV) campaigns in Sweden. The author shows that they include and articulate a range of different forms of care that are not limited to just asking people to “take care of themselves” or “care for others”. Care is instead approached as a multilayered, contextual and contingent phenomenon, and as made by a heterogeneity of human and nonhuman components. The study shows how care is articulated by human actors such as county council professionals who try to communicate care to girls and their relatives, and by material devices like an “HPV app”, a Facebook campaign site and a vaccination trailer which enable, distribute and trouble different forms of care. Campaign devices and campaign media, interviews, and textual cancer narratives are analyzed using a feminist science and technology studies (STS) approach. The study is situated within feminist STS discussions on the politics of care in technoscience, and contributes to discussions on temporal dimensions of care. In the campaign material the study examines, there is a dominant focus on care as something that needs to be done now to enable a healthy and happy future. By working with an ethico-political and analytical standpoint that is focused on making present neglected, marginal, absent and alternative matters of care, the author disrupts and troubles such future-oriented visions of care as an “anticipatory immediacy” through a focus on other temporalities of care. These include slower, messier and folded temporalities which open up for uncertainties, hesitations, indeterminacies, a range of feelings, and for more caring articulations of what care is. Keywords: HPV vaccination, health campaigns, public health, care, temporality, feelings, gender, sexuality, science and technology studies, feminist theory
To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate against HPV? A Content Analysis of Vocabularies of Motives
Romanian Journal Of Communication And Public Relations, 2020
In the present paper, I conducted a comparative study of vocabularies of motives that Romanian and American parents employ in the online environment on the topic of HPV vaccination. I started from C. W. Mills's (1940) article on vocabularies of motives, integrating into my analysis the concepts of filter bubbles and echo chambers. The research method that I employed is the content analysis of posts and comments from Facebook pages dedicated to the topic of vaccination. My results show that the vocabularies of Romanian and American parents are similar. In confrontational interactions on anti-vaccination pages the vocabularies of motives mirror each other, being centered on the adverse effects of the HPV vaccine and the dangers of not vaccinating. In consensual interactions on anti-vaccination pages, mandatory vaccination is advanced as the core motive within a flourishing vocabulary. On pro-vaccination pages, confrontational interactions give rise to vocabularies of motives concentrated on risks and dangers and also on accusations against anti-vaccination supporters. Consensual interactions on these pages generate circular vocabularies formed of accusations against anti-vaccinators and the reiteration of the danger of not vaccinating. Beyond the striking opposition between pro-and anti-vaxxers, there are intra-categorical discrepancies accompanied by mixt vocabularies of motives.