The Effect of Newspaper Reporting on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: a Randomised Controlled Trial (COVANEW)

University of Bari Aldo Moro

Status: Completed

Conditions: Vaccine Hesitancy

Treatments: Other: abstract vs concrete texts

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05582564

00001

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full description

The goal of this RCT is to learn how journalistic news can affect vaccine hesitancy. 2 cohorts of unvaccinated individual, one Italian, one French. 5 arms design:

1. participants reading a fact-based newspaper article written in an abstract language
2. participants reading a fact-based newspaper article written in a more concrete language
3. participants performing abstract categorization task
4. participants performing concrete categorization task
5. control group answering questionnaire

Research questions:

i) Does a more abstract vs concrete language increase the willingness to receive the vaccine? ii) Does a more abstract vs concrete mindset increase the willingness to receive the vaccine? iii) Is a gender effect detectable?

Enrollment: 1,068 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 64 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

unvaccinated individuals

Exclusion criteria

vaccinated individuals

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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1,068 participants in 5 patient groups

concrete text

Other group

Description:

Italian and French unvaccinated cohorts (n= 164; n=163)

Treatment:

Other: abstract vs concrete texts

abstract text

Other group

Description:

Italian and French unvaccinated cohorts (n=155; n=153)

Treatment:

Other: abstract vs concrete texts

abstract task

Other group

Description:

Italian and French unvaccinated cohorts (n=54; n=55)

Treatment:

Other: abstract vs concrete texts

concrete task

Other group

Description:

Italian and French unvaccinated cohorts (n=55; n=56)

Treatment:

Other: abstract vs concrete texts

control

Other group

Description:

Italian and French unvaccinated cohorts (n=103; n=110)

Treatment:

Other: abstract vs concrete texts