Parents' use of information accessed through social media to make immunisation decisions for their young children

Issue addressed Social media, while available to parents to inform decisions about their child's health, including immunisation, is a new area of exploration in public health. To effectively source, interpret and use such information, parents need to be health literate. This pilot study explored how parents of young children under 7 years of age obtained, understood and used immunisation information available through social media to inform immunisation decisions for their children. Methods Purposive sampling followed by a snowball technique was used to recruit parents with one or more children under 7 years of age living in the Brisbane North and Sunshine Coast regions, Australia. Face-to-face interviews collected qualitative data in relation to how parents obtained, understood and used information sourced via social media to make immunisation decisions for their children. Results All participants were passively exposed to immunisation information on social media through Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Twitter, but did not report proactively searching for information. The majority understood the immunisation information obtained, however, did not perceive it as credible and used other sources to clarify credibility, including their health care professional. Some participants interacted with the information, but none used it to make immunisation decisions for their children. Conclusions Whilst parents of children under 7 years of age are exposed to immunisation information on social media, they do not use this information to make immunisation decisions for their children, and rely on health care professionals for credible information. So what? Given health care providers are perceived by parents of young children as credible sources of immunisation information and parents are regularly exposed to immunisation information via social media, further exploration of the potential role of health care professionals in the dissemination of credible immunisation information via social media platforms is warranted.