Vaccination on the Internet: A Qualitative Analysis of Website Discourses

Abstract

US parents searching the Internet to inform themselves about childhood vaccination commonly encounter conflicting information. Typically, government agencies and medical organizations sponsor websites promoting vacccination, and advocacy groups sponsor vaccine-skeptical messages.

In our study, we looked at a range of websites concerning vaccination and examined the appeals they used to address visitors, persuasive strategies, and dominant themes. We looked at the first step of the persuasive process, which is conveying messages to the public.