Content area
Full Text
Abstract
Parents of children with autism (PCA) are among those most affected by the controversy surrounding supposed links between vaccines and autism. In this chapter we describe the vaccine attitudes of PCA and their association with satisfaction with their child's healthcare provider. Fifty PCA completed questionnaires on vaccine attitudes, exposure to media discussing links between vaccines and autism ('vaccine-autism media'), and satisfaction with their child's healthcare. These characteristics, as well as autism severity and child cognitive functioning, were examined for their correlation with parents' belief that vaccines caused autism and desire to refuse future vaccination. The majority endorsed vaccines as effective and necessary, yet 56% believed they contributed to autism's cause and 16% would discourage others' vaccination. Nearly 80% discussed concerns with their child's provider and felt they were taken seriously. Attitudes were not associated with parents' demographic characteristics or satisfaction with healthcare, but were associated with trust in health institutions, vaccine safety, exposure to vaccine-autism media, and child's lower cognitive functioning. Conclusions: Although parents reported positive communication with providers, doubts about safety and exposure to vaccine-autism media were common. These findings underscore the importance for targeted campaigns addressing PCA's concerns and to mitigate mistrust.
Introduction
Despite increasing evidence of genetic causes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (1-3) and an authoritative review rejecting a causal association between MMR vaccination and ASD (4), fear that childhood vaccines play a key role in the etiology of ASD persists (5). In fact, a review by Brown and colleagues (6) identified a significant association between parents' belief that vaccines cause autism and lower vaccine uptake. The controversy continues to attract media attention and many parents remain skeptical about the safety of childhood vaccines (7,8). The issue is particularly salient for parents of children with autism (PCA) and, with an estimated ASD prevalence of one in 88 (9), vaccine uptake among this group could have a substantive impact on public health.
Online surveys of parents involved with autism organizations in the US and Canada revealed that 40% of parents believed that vaccines were among the most significant contributory factors involved in their child's autism (10). Many factors play a role in producing these beliefs, including the temporal proximity of childhood vaccination and the manifestation of autism, distrust of governmental...