The Effect of Newspaper Reporting on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: a Randomised Controlled Trial
COVANEW
1 other identifier
interventional
1,068
1 country
1
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.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P75+ for not_applicable
Started Jun 2021
Shorter than P25 for not_applicable
1 active site
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
Click on a node to explore related trials.
Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
Study Start
First participant enrolled
June 2, 2021
CompletedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
June 20, 2021
CompletedStudy Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
January 31, 2022
CompletedFirst Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
October 13, 2022
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
October 17, 2022
CompletedOctober 17, 2022
October 1, 2022
18 days
October 13, 2022
October 13, 2022
Conditions
Keywords
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (1)
vaccine hesitancy; number of participants accepting the vaccination
revealed preferences
same day
Study Arms (5)
concrete text
OTHERItalian and French unvaccinated cohorts (n= 164; n=163)
abstract text
OTHERItalian and French unvaccinated cohorts (n=155; n=153)
abstract task
OTHERItalian and French unvaccinated cohorts (n=54; n=55)
concrete task
OTHERItalian and French unvaccinated cohorts (n=55; n=56)
control
OTHERItalian and French unvaccinated cohorts (n=103; n=110)
Interventions
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 descriptive style and language, while the other used a more anecdotical style and concrete language: each group read only one of these articles. Both articles are the same length and describe an episode of vaccine-related thrombosis. The abstract text uses a more formal and impersonal language, reporting more scientific considerations; the concrete text uses a more familiar and emotional style and provides a more anecdotical description of the case. Texts were also weighted according to a concreteness semantic vocabulary. French received translated versions.Two other groups were assigned categorization tasks; one was asked to complete a concrete categorization task and the other an abstract categorization task.
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if:
- unvaccinated individuals
You may not qualify if:
- vaccinated individuals
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
Study Sites (1)
University of Bari Aldo Moro
Bari, 70121, Italy
Related Publications (4)
Liberman N, Trope Y. Traversing psychological distance. Trends Cogn Sci. 2014 Jul;18(7):364-9. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2014.03.001. Epub 2014 Apr 10.
PMID: 24726527BACKGROUNDTrope Y, Liberman N. Temporal construal. Psychol Rev. 2003 Jul;110(3):403-21. doi: 10.1037/0033-295x.110.3.403.
PMID: 12885109BACKGROUNDLoomba S, de Figueiredo A, Piatek SJ, de Graaf K, Larson HJ. Measuring the impact of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on vaccination intent in the UK and USA. Nat Hum Behav. 2021 Mar;5(3):337-348. doi: 10.1038/s41562-021-01056-1. Epub 2021 Feb 5.
PMID: 33547453BACKGROUNDMacDonald NE; SAGE Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy: Definition, scope and determinants. Vaccine. 2015 Aug 14;33(34):4161-4. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2015.04.036. Epub 2015 Apr 17.
PMID: 25896383BACKGROUND
MeSH Terms
Conditions
Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- not applicable
- Allocation
- RANDOMIZED
- Masking
- NONE
- Purpose
- OTHER
- Intervention Model
- PARALLEL
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
- PI Title
- Assistant Professor
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
October 13, 2022
First Posted
October 17, 2022
Study Start
June 2, 2021
Primary Completion
June 20, 2021
Study Completion
January 31, 2022
Last Updated
October 17, 2022
Record last verified: 2022-10
Data Sharing
- IPD Sharing
- Will not share
No personal data have been collected. Individual responses to the questionnaire will be shared without personal information of respondents on a public repository.