Dr. Henry Paul, MD

Psychiatrist, Author and Educator

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS!

August 6th, 2015
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A new study published in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences is saying that dispelling the myths about vaccines has much less effect on changing opinions about the need for vaccinations than emphasizing the dangers posed by serious diseases.

I have blogged before on the importance of vaccinating your children. In April this year I told you about Tara Hill, a Canadian mom of seven children who didn’t believe in vaccinating. That is until all of her children contracted pertussis, better known as whooping cough.

She penned “Learning the Hard Way: My Journey from AntiVaxx to Science” while in quarantine with her children and posted it on TheScientificParent.org. After a recent measles outbreak, Hill had begun to vaccinate her children. The oldest three were partially vaccinated, but the youngest had not had any vaccines when they caught whooping cough.

I would be interested in Hill’s response to this new study led by graduate student Zachary Horne. Horne recruited a sample group of 315 parents and non-parents. The first thing he did was to measure their pre-existing attitudes towards vaccines. According to the TIME article, “The subjects were asked to respond on a six-point scale, from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree,’ to five statements that included, ‘The risks of side effects outweighs any potential benefits of vaccines’ and ‘I plan to vaccinate my children.’”

The article went on to say that “All of the subjects were then divided into three groups: One group was given material to read about the latest research showing that autism and vaccines are in no way related. The second group was given a paragraph to read written in the voice of a mother describing what it was like when her child contracted measles; three pictures of children with measles, mumps and rubella; and written warnings about the importance of vaccinating children. The third group, serving as a control, read material on an unrelated science topic.”

The conclusion of the study seemed to show that more of the participants were affected by the showing of the dangers of contracting diseases like measles, mumps or smallpox rather than by telling. Something I’m not surprised to hear. Horne recommends that “show-don’t-tell” may be effective counseling with new parents.

Click here to read the TIME on the study.  Questions?  Email me at drpaul@henrypaulmd.com

DISCLAIMER
Information contained in this blog is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended as medical or psychiatric advice for individual conditions or treatment and does not substitute for a medical or psychiatric examination. A psychiatrist must make a determination about any treatment or prescription. Dr. Paul does not assume any responsibility or risk for the use of any information contained within this blog.