TY - JOUR
T1 - Beliefs about causes of autism and vaccine hesitancy among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder
AU - Goin-Kochel, Robin P.
AU - Fombonne, Eric
AU - Mire, Sarah S.
AU - Minard, Charles G.
AU - Sahni, Leila C.
AU - Cunningham, Rachel M.
AU - Boom, Julie A.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors express their thanks to the SPARK team at the Simons Foundation and the SPARK cohort participants. We appreciate obtaining access to phenotypic data on SFARI Base. Approved researchers can obtain the SPARK dataset described in this study by applying at https://base.sfari.org . The SPARK cohort is funded by the Simons Foundation. This project was initiated by the authors without specific or supplemental funding. The sponsor played no role in designing, executing or writing up the results of this analysis.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2020/9/11
Y1 - 2020/9/11
N2 - Vaccine hesitancy may be more common among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We examined factors associated with ASD-specific vaccine hesitancy among caregivers of children with ASD who participated in the SPARK study (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge). 225 participants completed an online survey containing the Parent Attitudes About Childhood Vaccines (PACV) questionnaire (measure of vaccine hesitancy) and the Illness Perception Questionnaire revised for parents of children with ASD (IPQ-R-ASD; measure of parents’ views about ASD). 65 participants (28.8%) were vaccine hesitant (PACV score ≥ 50); children of vaccine-hesitant parents (VHPs) were less likely to be first born (n = 27, 41.5%), had greater ASD-symptom severity (mean Social Communication Questionnaire score = 23.9, SD = 6.9), and were more likely to have experienced developmental regression (n = 27, 50.9%) or plateau (n = 37, 69.8%). Compared to non-hesitant parents, VHPs significantly more often endorsed accident/injury, deterioration of the child's immune system, diet, environmental pollution, general stress, parents’ negative views, parents’ behaviors/decisions, parents’ emotional state, and vaccines as causes for ASD. VHPs also had higher scores on the Personal Control, Treatment Control, Illness Coherence, and Emotional Representations subscales of the IPQ-R than did non-hesitant parents. In the final model, ASD-related vaccine hesitancy was significantly associated with higher scores on the Emotional Representations subscale (OR = 1.13, p = 0.10), agreement with deterioration of the child's immunity as a cause of ASD (OR = 12.47, p < 0.001), the child not having achieved fluent speech (OR = 2.67, p = 0.17), and the child experiencing a developmental plateau (OR = 3.89, p = 0.002). Findings suggest that a combination of child functioning and developmental history, as well as parents’ negative views about and their sense of control over ASD, influence vaccine hesitancy among parents of children with ASD.
AB - Vaccine hesitancy may be more common among parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We examined factors associated with ASD-specific vaccine hesitancy among caregivers of children with ASD who participated in the SPARK study (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge). 225 participants completed an online survey containing the Parent Attitudes About Childhood Vaccines (PACV) questionnaire (measure of vaccine hesitancy) and the Illness Perception Questionnaire revised for parents of children with ASD (IPQ-R-ASD; measure of parents’ views about ASD). 65 participants (28.8%) were vaccine hesitant (PACV score ≥ 50); children of vaccine-hesitant parents (VHPs) were less likely to be first born (n = 27, 41.5%), had greater ASD-symptom severity (mean Social Communication Questionnaire score = 23.9, SD = 6.9), and were more likely to have experienced developmental regression (n = 27, 50.9%) or plateau (n = 37, 69.8%). Compared to non-hesitant parents, VHPs significantly more often endorsed accident/injury, deterioration of the child's immune system, diet, environmental pollution, general stress, parents’ negative views, parents’ behaviors/decisions, parents’ emotional state, and vaccines as causes for ASD. VHPs also had higher scores on the Personal Control, Treatment Control, Illness Coherence, and Emotional Representations subscales of the IPQ-R than did non-hesitant parents. In the final model, ASD-related vaccine hesitancy was significantly associated with higher scores on the Emotional Representations subscale (OR = 1.13, p = 0.10), agreement with deterioration of the child's immunity as a cause of ASD (OR = 12.47, p < 0.001), the child not having achieved fluent speech (OR = 2.67, p = 0.17), and the child experiencing a developmental plateau (OR = 3.89, p = 0.002). Findings suggest that a combination of child functioning and developmental history, as well as parents’ negative views about and their sense of control over ASD, influence vaccine hesitancy among parents of children with ASD.
KW - ASD
KW - Autism
KW - Immunizations
KW - Parent perception
KW - Vaccine hesitancy
KW - Vaccines
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U2 - 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.07.034
DO - 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.07.034
M3 - Article
C2 - 32732144
AN - SCOPUS:85088796987
SN - 0264-410X
VL - 38
SP - 6327
EP - 6333
JO - Vaccine
JF - Vaccine
IS - 40
ER -