A randomized controlled trial of empathetic refutational learning with health care professionals.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Health care professionals are in a key position to promote vaccinations. However, consulting vaccine-hesitant patients can be difficult, especially when patients bring up anti-vaccination arguments. Whereas prior research has identified essential skills for refuting anti-vaccination arguments, little is known about how to acquire these skills. Our aim was to determine if empathetic refutational interview text scenarios help health care professionals build confidence and abilities in countering anti-vaccination arguments.

Methods

We conducted an online randomized controlled experiment with UK and Finnish health care professionals in which we randomly assigned them to an empathetic refutational interview group (n = 167) or a control group (n = 180). Participants in

SUBMITTER: Holford D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11823235 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature