Preparing Health Profession Students to Address Vaccine Hesitancy

As future practitioners, health profession students play a vital role in vaccination efforts. We sought to assess the impact of a longitudinal community-based program on health professional students' knowledge and self-confidence to provide accurate, evidence-based resources to patients and address vaccination hesitancy.

Retrospective cohort study.

In 2023, 181 interprofessional health profession students participated in an asynchronous didactic curriculum designed to educate health profession students in their last two years of clinical training on how to provide vaccine education and address vaccine hesitancy.

The data analysis revealed a statistically significant positive change between the pre-test and post-test phases regarding students' self-reported understanding of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and addressing vaccine hesitancy. The qualitative feedback from participants expressed an appreciation for the didactic content and provided feedback that identified the videos embedded into the curriculum as engaging.

The results of this project demonstrated that targeted education on vaccine-related issues, and vaccine hesitancy can effectively increase health profession students' knowledge and willingness to engage in public health efforts. The findings suggest a need for future curricular efforts to address complex health issues such as like parent-provider communication around vaccines and addressing vaccine hesitancy beyond HPV.