A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF ETHNICITY-SPECIFIC FACTORS INFLUENCING CHILDHOOD IMMUNISATION DECISIONS AMONG BLACK AND ASIAN MINORITY ETHNIC GROUPS IN THE UK

Purpose: Some childhood immunisations in the United Kingdom have lower uptake among individuals from some Black and Asian Minority Ethnic backgrounds. We conducted a systematic review of qualitative research in order to describe the ethnicity-related factors that influence the immunisation decisions of parents from Black and Asian Minority Ethnic backgrounds who are living in the United Kingdom.

Method(s): On 2^nd December 2014 we searched PsycINFO, MEDLINE, CINAHL plus, Embase, Social Policy and Practice and Web of Science for studies published in English at any time using the terms “UK” and “vaccination” and “qualitative methods” (and variations of these). Articles were included if any participant was a parent from a Black or Asian Minority Ethnic background. We used thematic synthesis methods to develop descriptive and then higher order themes. We report themes that specifically related to ethnicity and factors associated with ethnicity.

Result(s): There were eight papers included in the review. The majority of participants were either from Black (n=62) or Asian (n=38) backgrounds. There were two ethnicity-related factors arising from the data that were found to affect immunisation decisions. First of all, factors that are related to ethnicity (including religion, upbringing and migration and language), were found to affect whether parents perceived that immunisations are important, whether immunisations are considered to be allowed or culturally acceptable and parents’ knowledge of vaccines and the vaccination schedule. Secondly, we found that some parents perceive that there are biological differences between themselves and the majority population (such as an increased risk of acquiring the vaccine-preventable disease or suffering vaccine side-effects) and this affected decision-making and the information that parents wanted to receive.

Conclusion(s): When seeking to understand immunisation decisions among parents from Black and Asian Minority Ethnic backgrounds, factors that are associated with ethnicity must be considered. It would be fortuitous, where feasible, to target vaccine information so that it addresses beliefs about ethnic differences held by some individuals from some Black and Asian Minority Ethnic backgrounds, as well as concerns commonly expressed by the general population.