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Healthism vis-à-vis Vaccine Hesitancy: Insights from Parents Who Either Delay or Refuse Children’s Vaccination in Portugal
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Orientador(es)
Resumo(s)
Although healthism appears to be at the heart of the decision-making process of vaccine
hesitancy, this matter has been understudied. We believe that the concept of healthism may be key to
lessen the polarization of discourses around vaccination, offering a broad understanding of parents’
decision to not vaccinate their children. This article aims to deepen the knowledge on the relation
between healthism and vaccine hesitancy, using Portugal as a case study. A qualitative research
approach was adopted, and therefore, in-depth interviews were conducted with 31 vaccine-hesitant
parents. The findings showed that vaccine-hesitant parents usually adopt several strategies based on
natural living to prevent and tackle their children’s potential health issues. There appears to be a
common approach towards health and life (i.e., healthism) among vaccine-hesitant parents. Drawing
upon the healthism ideology, vaccine-hesitant parents make choices to ensure the good health of their
child. These choices nevertheless represent a privileged position as the pursuit of healthfulness is
constrained by sociodemographic aspects. Using vaccine hesitancy as the starting point, our findings
show that healthism and its focus on personal accountability under the umbrella of neoliberalism may
jeopardize global public health. Healthcare professionals should pay particular attention to healthism
when addressing vaccine hesitancy in Portugal and elsewhere. Research evidence advocates the need
to be sensitive to the broad spectrum of vaccine hesitancy as this encompasses multiple views on
the subject.
Descrição
Palavras-chave
vaccine hesitancy healthism parenting qualitative methods
Contexto Educativo
Citação
Mendonça, J., Hilário, A. P. (2023). Healthism vis-à-vis Vaccine Hesitancy: Insights from Parents Who Either Delay or Refuse Children’s Vaccination in Portugal. Societies 2023, 13(8), 184
Editora
MDPI