Nursing Leadership in Qualitative Health Research

Abstract

There is undisputable, robust empirical evidence that supports the conclusion that immunizing infants and young children with the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccination does not cause autism. In Europe, the most recent evidence comes from a nationwide cohort study of 657,461 children born in Denmark between 1999 and 2010 which concluded that MMR vaccination is not associated with any clustering of new cases of autism following vaccination and that it does not increase any child's risk for autism (Hviid, Hansen, Frish & Melbye, 2019). Increasingly however, across primary, acute, community and long-term care contexts, registered nurses are encountering individuals who are hesitant to immunize, despite the evidence of vaccine effectiveness and implementation of national immunization programs. Vaccine hesitancy, as well as low vaccination coverage rates, are well documented throughout Europe, whether it be among women recommended to receive influenza and pertussis vaccination during pregnancy (Wilson, Paterson, & Larson, 2019), adolescents eligible to receive the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine (Karafillakis et al., 2019), or health care professionals and the uptake of the seasonal influenza vaccination (Gilardi et al., 2018). Recently, the World Health Organization (2019) identified vaccine hesitancy as one of the top-ten threats to global health. This global threat makes it apparent that in addition to quantitative studies that provide information about the effectivenessof vaccines and measures of vaccination coverage, nurses and other health care professionals need answers to equally important questions, such as: "What organizational or health system factors influence the successful uptake of immunization programs?" "What are individuals' values and beliefs towards vaccinations?" or "How do individuals make the decision to vaccinate (or not)?" The answers to these questions can be found through the conduct and use of qualitative health research.