The Effect of Newspaper Reporting on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: a Randomised Controlled Trial

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Vaccine Hesitancy

• Registration Number: NCT05582564
• Lead Sponsor: University of Bari Aldo Moro

Brief Summary

COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy can be observed at different rates in different countries. 1,068 people were surveyed in France and Italy to inquire about individual potential acceptance, focusing on time preferences, in a risk-return framework: having the vaccination today, in a month, and in 3 months; perceived risks of vaccination and COVID-19; and expected benefit of the vaccine. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to understand how everyday stimuli, such as fact-based news about vaccines, impact on audience acceptance of vaccination. The main experiment involved two groups of participants and two different articles about vaccine-related thrombosis taken from two Italian newspapers. One article used a more abstract description and language, and the other used a more anecdotical description and concrete language; each group read only one of these articles. Two other groups were assigned categorization tasks; one was asked to complete a concrete categorization task and the other an abstract categorization task.

Detailed Description

The goal of this RCT is to learn how journalistic news can affect vaccine hesitancy. 2 cohorts of unvaccinated individual, one Italian, one French. 5 arms design:

1. participants reading a fact-based newspaper article written in an abstract language

2. participants reading a fact-based newspaper article written in a more concrete language

3. participants performing abstract categorization task

4. participants performing concrete categorization task

5. control group answering questionnaire

Research questions:

i) Does a more abstract vs concrete language increase the willingness to receive the vaccine? ii) Does a more abstract vs concrete mindset increase the willingness to receive the vaccine? iii) Is a gender effect detectable?

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2021-06-02
• Primary Completion: 2021-06-20
• Study Completion: 2022-01-31
• Status Verified: 2022-10
• Study First Submitted: 2022-10-13
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-10-13
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-10-13
• Study First Posted: 2022-10-17
• Last Update Posted: 2022-10-17

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1068

Inclusion Criteria

unvaccinated individuals

Exclusion Criteria

vaccinated individuals

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
vaccine hesitancy; number of participants accepting the vaccination	same day	revealed preferences

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Bari Aldo Moro; 🇮🇹 Bari, Italy