Digital Storytelling to Reduce Hispanic Parents' COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Hispanic children in the U.S. experience disproportionately low COVID-19 vaccination rates, largely due to parental vaccine hesitancy. Digital storytelling offers a culturally relevant approach to address concerns through first-hand narratives. This study examined the feasibility and acceptability of a community-driven digital storytelling intervention to reduce vaccine hesitancy among Hispanic parents.

Ten formerly vaccine-hesitant Hispanic parents developed digital stories about their reasons for vaccinating their child(ren) against COVID-19. We then enrolled 80 Hispanic parents whose children were not up to date with COVID-19 vaccines in a randomized feasibility trial. Intervention group participants (n = 40) viewed four digital stories selected by a community advisory board, while control group participants (n = 40) viewed four length- and format-matched videos about nutrition. Surveys were completed pre-intervention (T1), immediate post-intervention (T2), and at 2-month follow-up (T3). A subsample of intervention participants also joined focus groups at T3.

Qualitative data suggested that DST was an acceptable and engaging method of health education. Intervention group parents showed moderately larger increases in intention to vaccinate than did controls at T2 (d = 0.41) and T3 (d = 0.30). At T3, intervention group parents were more likely to have vaccinated their children than were controls (OR = 5.20, 95% CI = 1.63-16.57; RR = 3.10, 95% CI = 1.30-7.37).

The community-driven digital storytelling intervention was feasible and acceptable, and findings suggest moderate effects on increasing vaccine intentions and uptake. Future work should evaluate its effectiveness in reducing parental vaccine hesitancy and, in turn, vaccine uptake for other childhood immunizations.