Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

5-2012

Abstract

Vaccination decisions, as in choosing whether or not to immunize one's small child against specific diseases, are both psychologically and computationally complex. The psychological complexities have been extensively studied, often in the context of shaping convincing or persuasive messages that will encourage parents to vaccinate their children. The computational complexity of the decision has been less noted. However, even if the parent has access to neutral, accurate, credible information on vaccination risks and benefits, he or she can easily be overwhelmed by the task of combining this information into a well-reasoned decision. We argue here that the Internet, in addition to its potential as an information source, could provide useful assistance to parents in integrating factual information with their own values and preferences – that is, in providing real decision aid as well as information aid. We sketch one approach for accomplishing this by means of a hierarchy of interactive decision aids ranging from simple advice to full-scale decision analysis.

Keywords

Decision making, Decision aiding, Internet, Vaccination decisions

Discipline

Applied Behavior Analysis | Health Psychology | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Vaccine

Volume

30

Issue

25

First Page

3813

Last Page

3818

ISSN

0264-410X

Identifier

10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.12.094

Publisher

Elsevier

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2011.12.094

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