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24. Jahrestagung des Netzwerks Evidenzbasierte Medizin e. V.

Netzwerk Evidenzbasierte Medizin e. V. (EbM-Netzwerk)

22. - 24.03.2023, Potsdam

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Stakeholder involvement for investigating communication-based interventions to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake

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  • Claire Iannizzi - University of Cologne, Evidence-based Medicine, Department I of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Deutschland
  • Marike Andreas - University of Cologne, Evidence-based Medicine, Department I of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Deutschland
  • Emma Bohndorf - University of Cologne, Evidence-based Medicine, Department I of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Deutschland
  • Caroline Hirsch - University of Cologne, Evidence-based Medicine, Department I of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Deutschland
  • Ana-Mihaela Bora - University of Cologne, Evidence-based Medicine, Department I of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Deutschland
  • Janine Brinkmann-Paulukat - NRW Centre for Health, Division Infection Prevention, Deutschland
  • Brigitte Bormann - NRW Centre for Health, Division Health Data, Healthcare Structures, Deutschland
  • Ina Monsef - University of Cologne, Evidence-based Medicine, Department I of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Deutschland
  • Julia Neufeind - Robert Koch-Institute, Immunization Unit, Deutschland
  • Nora Schmid-Küpke - Robert Koch-Institute, Immunization Unit, Deutschland
  • Sebastian Thole - NRW Centre for Health, Division Infection Prevention, Deutschland
  • Nicole Skoetz - University of Cologne, Evidence-based Medicine, Department I of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Deutschland

Gesundheit und Klima – EbM für die Zukunft. 24. Jahrestagung des Netzwerks Evidenzbasierte Medizin. Potsdam, 22.-24.03.2023. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2023. Doc23ebmV3-05

doi: 10.3205/23ebm015, urn:nbn:de:0183-23ebm0157

Published: March 21, 2023

© 2023 Iannizzi et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

Text

Background/research question: The long-awaited COVID-19 vaccines are effective in preventing severe COVID-19 disease. However, vaccine hesitancy, identified as one of the top ten threats to global health by the WHO, has proven to be an important issue in the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we investigated the effectiveness of different communication strategies aiming to increase COVID-19 vaccine intention and uptake.

Methods: Within this DFG funded project (SK146/3-1), we invited different stakeholders to an online meeting to develop a relevant research question using Google Jamboard to visually collect the answers. The discussion was based on the findings of our prior Scoping-Review1 which maps the available evidence on interventions to increase COVID-19 vaccine intention of different populations. Together with relevant stakeholders from policy and research, we prioritised types of interventions and target populations and developed the PICO for a subsequent systematic review2. We will discuss the implementation of the intervention strategies, identified in the systematic review, in another stakeholder meeting by the end of the project.

Results: As the initial stakeholder meeting was so successful, most stakeholder agreed to further participate in the project and be involved in the upcoming systematic review. Thus, we had biweekly meetings until the end of the project, with experts from the Robert Koch Institute and the NRW Center for Health. We conducted the planned systematic review of randomised controlled trials and included studies investigating communication-based interventions to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake, for any population. The policymakers were particularly interested in communication strategies, as these are easy to implement. Outcome measures, considered most relevant by the stakeholder, were COVID-19 vaccine uptake, vaccine confidence and vaccination intention. We performed meta-analyses using Review Manager Desktop version 5.4. Our findings included 27 studies. Evidence from our meta-analyses shows that for COVID-19 vaccine uptake there may be a slight increase in COVID-19 vaccine uptake when education and information strategies or social norm strategies are applied, compared to no intervention.

Schlussfolgerung: Involving stakeholders in the systematic review process ensures that relevant research questions are answered and facilitates translation and dissemination. Our findings will have implications for policy decision-making in prospective vaccination promotion, not only regarding Covid-19.

Competing interests: None of the authors have conflict of interests.

Outline

References

1.
Andreas M, Iannizzi C, Bohndorf E, Monsef I, Piechotta V, Meerpohl JJ, Skoetz N. Interventions to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake: a scoping review. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2022 Aug 3;8(8):CD015270. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD015270 External link
2.
Andreas M, Iannizzi C, Monsef I, Thole S, Brinkmann J, Borrmann B, Meerpohl JJ, Bohndorf E, Skoetz N. Protocol for a systematic review to compare communication-based interventions to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake [Internet]. OSF; 2023. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/CWV5J External link