title: Parents who refuse to vaccinate their infants: paediatricians' feelings and treatment intentions.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate paediatricians' attitudes and emotions towards parents who refuse to vaccinate their infants and to assess their reactions, suggestions and practices.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study group consisted of 376 paediatricians in Israel, who completed the emailed research questionnaire anonymously.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although the vast majority of paediatricians agreed that vaccination was in the baby's best interest (92.2%), only a small percentage (3.5%) felt that there should be some scientific justification behind a parent's refusal. The majority (70.7%) of those surveyed expressed negative feelings towards refusing parents. Despite this, more than a third (36.9%) agreed that parents have the right to decide (28.9% disagreed) and a third (36.8%) agreed that vaccinations should be officially enforced (35.8% disagreed). Only a very small percentage of the paediatricians (1.8%) said they would object to treating infants who had not been vaccinated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Paediatricians face a conflict between two opposing values: the importance of immunization versus the parents' rights to decide what is best for their own child. Therefore, they are in favour of gentle persuasion or official enforcement. We believe that experts in modern communication could help paediatricians to convey the positive benefits of vaccination to parents.
authors: Department of Neonatology, Sheba Medical Center, The Edmond and Lili Safra Children's Hospital, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. maayan@post.tau.ac.il.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Maayan-Metzger
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Kedem-Friedrich
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Ben-Namer-Basseches
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Kuint
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016312:Treatment Refusal; D014611:Vaccination / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Immunization; Infant vaccination; Paediatricians' attitudes and practices; Refusing parents