ArticleBMC public health2007
Parents' champions vs. vested interests: who do parents believe about MMR? A qualitative study.
Article in BMC public health, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 90 citations in OpenAlex.
- Factors that influence parents' and informal caregivers' views and practices regarding routine childhood vaccination: a qualitative evidence synthesis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Measuring trust in vaccination: A systematic review.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2018Pooled it
- Parents' and informal caregivers' views and experiences of communication about routine childhood vaccination: a synthesis of qualitative evidence.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- Randomised cluster trial to support informed parental decision-making for the MMR vaccine.BMC public health · 2011Trial
- Vaccine Hesitancy in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analyses.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Exploring Vaccine Hesitancy Among Parents in a Rural Pediatric Clinic System: A Statistical Study.Cureus · 2024Article
- Mitigating Vaccine Hesitancy and Building Trust to Prevent Future Measles Outbreaks in England.Vaccines · 2023Article
- Article
- Why are people antiscience, and what can we do about it?Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- How practice nurses engage with parents during their consultations about the MMR vaccine: a qualitative study.Primary health care research & development · 2021Article
- Vaccine Information Sources and Parental Trust in Their Child's Health Care Provider.Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education · 2019Article
- Conflicting health information: a critical research need.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2016Article
- Parental Vaccine Hesitancy in Quebec (Canada).PLoS currents · 2016Article
- Twitter Influence on UK Vaccination and Antiviral Uptake during the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic.Frontiers in public health · 2016Article
- Primary care nurses' experiences of how the mass media influence frontline healthcare in the UK.BMC family practice · 2013Article
- Escalating coverage of obesity in UK newspapers: the evolution and framing of the "obesity epidemic" from 1996 to 2010.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2012Article
- UK newspapers' representations of the 2009-10 outbreak of swine flu: one health scare not over-hyped by the media?Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2011Article
- Story in health and social care.Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy · 2009Article
- A translational framework for public health research.BMC public health · 2009Article
- Competency, confidence and conflicting evidence: key issues affecting health visitors' use of research evidence in practice.BMC nursing · 2009Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDespite the Government acting quickly to reassure parents about MMR safety following the publication of the 1998 paper by Wakefield and colleagues, MMR uptake declined. One of the reasons suggested for this decline is a loss of public trust in politicians and health professionals. The purpose of this analysis was to examine parents' views on the role the media, politicians and health professionals have played in providing credible evidence about MMR safety.
methodsA qualitative focus group study conducted with parents living in Central Scotland. Eighteen focus groups were conducted with 72 parents (64 mothers and 8 fathers) between November 2002 and March 2003. Purposive sampling was used to ensure maximum variation among parents.
resultsIn the period after the MMR controversy, parents found it difficult to know who to trust to offer balanced and accurate information. The general consensus was that politicians were untrustworthy in matters of health. The motives of primary health care providers were suspected by some parents, who saw them as having a range of vested interests (including financial incentives). Among the sources of evidence seen by some parents as more credible were other parents, and Andrew Wakefield who was viewed as an important whistle-blower and champion of ordinary parents.
conclusionThe provision of accurate information is only one aspect of helping parents make immunisation decisions. Establishing and maintaining trust in the information provided is also important. The MMR controversy may provide useful lessons for health professionals about trust and credibility that may be generalisable to future health controversies.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.