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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1353091
This article is part of the Research Topic Social Science Contributions to Public Health View all 3 articles

Gender Differences in Responses to an Altruistic Message Regarding Rubella Vaccination

Provisionally accepted
Hideo Okuno Hideo Okuno 1,2*Hiroshi Satoh Hiroshi Satoh 3Satoru Arai Satoru Arai 2Motoi Suzuki Motoi Suzuki 2Toshiko Kikkawa Toshiko Kikkawa 4
  • 1 Osaka University Hospital, Suita, Japan
  • 2 National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), Tokyo, Tôkyô, Japan
  • 3 Takasaki City Health Center, Gunma, Japan
  • 4 Keio University, Minato, Tōkyō, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: The supplementary immunization activity (SIA) for the rubella vaccination of adult men born between 1962 and 1978 began in 2019 in Japan because of a vaccine gap in the cohort, as vaccination was not mandatory for those born in that period. However, SIA coverage remains low, despite an active campaign and financial support. Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled study based on a 2 (scenario: self-vaccination, child vaccination) × 2 (message: self-interest, group interest) factorial design, using a Japanese online panel. Participants with children were assigned to the child vaccination scenario in Intervention 1, whereas others were assigned to the self-vaccination scenario. After Intervention 1, all participants were given the same information about rubella. In Intervention 2, participants assigned to self-interest messages received a message emphasizing the risk of rubella, and those assigned to group-interest messages received a message emphasizing herd immunity. After Intervention 2, we evaluated the effects using a questionnaire. Results: Among the 2,206 participants, information regarding rubella was evaluated as more reliable in the group-than in the self-interest message condition, especially among women. Women evaluated the necessity of rubella vaccination for adult men and women to be higher in the child-vaccination scenario and group-interest messages. However, no differences were found among men. By contrast, men exposed to the self-interest message positively evaluated the reliability of the rubella explanation. Conclusions: The findings indicate that emphasizing self-interest messages is more effective for men in promoting herd immunity against rubella.

    Keywords: Risk Communication, Vaccine hesitancy, Altruism, Gender difference, Rubella vaccination, Group interest, self-interest

    Received: 09 Dec 2023; Accepted: 29 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Okuno, Satoh, Arai, Suzuki and Kikkawa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Hideo Okuno, Osaka University Hospital, Suita, Japan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.