Making sense of perceptions of risk of diseases and vaccinations: a qualitative study combining models of health beliefs, decision-making and risk perception

Table 2 Summary of differences between complete, incomplete and non-immunisers* in terms of the Health Belief Model

	Severity	Susceptibility	Benefits	Barriers	Cues to action
Complete immuniser	Diseases serious, better to be prevented	Likely to get diseases	Vaccines are safe & effective	Lack of information about vaccines, diseases & side effects	Have health provider one can trust
			Serious side effects are rare
Incomplete immuniser	Better to get either the vaccine or the disease when young (for some diseases)	Children susceptible to diseases/sickness in general ('they are always sick')	Vaccines are safe but not effective	Minor illnesses, forgetting, advice from health professionals	School immunisation certificate (but not for age-appropriate immunisations)
	Diseases are serious for adults	Adults more likely to have serious side effects from measles, rubella, mumps	Vaccines wont prevent diseases but will reduce effects	Confusion about which vaccines have been given	Health provider who understands family's circumstances
Non-immuniser	Diseases are not as serious as made out especially if child has healthy immune system	Susceptible to vaccine side effects	Vaccines cannot prevent diseases & are actively dangerous	Perceived serious consequences of vaccines	None
Common perceptions	Measles is common but rarely serious	Very young children are susceptible to vaccine side effects	None	Lack of information, trust, support	Trusted health provider and/or information
	Other diseases are serious but not common

*3 Partial immunisers held views similar to complete immunisers and the other 4 held similar views to non-immunisers

ISSN: 1471-2458