Parents’ Trust in COVID-19 Messengers and Implications for Vaccination

Abstract

Purpose To characterize factors associated with parents’ trust in messengers of COVID-19 guidance and determine whether trust in their doctors is associated with COVID-19 vaccination. Design Web-based and mailed survey (January-June 2022). Setting Maryland, USA. Subjects 567 parents/caregivers of public elementary and middle school students. Measures Parents rated trust in 9 messengers on a 4-point scale [“not at all” (0) to “a great deal” (3)], dichotomized into low (0-1) vs high (2-3). They reported on health insurance, income, race, ethnicity, education, sex, urbanicity, political affiliation, and COVID-19 vaccination. Analysis ANOVA and t-tests were computed to compare overall trust by parent characteristics. Multivariable logistic regression was run to evaluate factors associated with high trust for each messenger. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between trust in doctors and odds of COVID-19 vaccination. Results Most trusted messengers were doctors (M = 2.65), family members (M = 1.87), and schools (M = 1.81). Parents’ trust varied by racial identity, sex, urbanicity, health insurance, and political affiliation. Greater trust in their or their child’s doctor was associated with greater odds of child (aOR: 2.97; 95% CI: 1.10, 7.98) and parent (aOR: 3.30; 95% CI: 1.23, 1.47) vaccination. Conclusion Parent characteristics were associated with trust, and trust was linked to vaccination. Public health professionals should anticipate variability in trusted messengers to optimize uptake of public health guidance.