Imperfect Immunization Communication on School District Websites: A Mixed-Methods Review

Schools and school districts are key to U.S. vaccination policies: They communicate immunization enrollment requirements and enforce them during registration. This article presents a mixed-methods study of how Michigan's 537 districts communicate about vaccine mandates through public-facing web...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of school nursing Vol. 38; no. 5; pp. 459 - 466
Main Authors Navin, Mark C, Attwell, Katie
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published SAGE Publications 01.10.2022
Subjects
Communication Strategies
Health Promotion
Immunization Programs
School Districts
Web Sites
Michigan
Online AccessGet more information

Cover

More Information
Summary:Schools and school districts are key to U.S. vaccination policies: They communicate immunization enrollment requirements and enforce them during registration. This article presents a mixed-methods study of how Michigan's 537 districts communicate about vaccine mandates through public-facing websites. It reports the results of a qualitative analysis (n = 50) of websites from Southeast Michigan and a quantitative analysis of all (n = 537) Michigan's district websites. School district websites engage in diverse health promotion practices surrounding immunization, from encouraging vaccination to neutral messaging and to encouraging exemptions. Most provide scant immunization information and few promote the importance of immunization for individual and community health. We recommend that school nurses, district staff, and health authorities collaborate to ensure that school district communication promotes immunization and does not promote nonmedical exemptions. This can lead schools to embrace immunization as an essential activity for their own functioning rather than as an unwelcome requirement imposed by outside agents.
ISSN:1059-8405
DOI:10.1177/1059840520970886