Vaccinate AZ Website: An Example of Improving Online Parent Education Materials

Abstract

Early childhood vaccinations have become a highly debated public health topic in the past two years. Parents, politicians, doctors, and celebrities alike each have their own opinion on vaccines and vaccine schedules for children. One way to improve vaccination rates and decrease personal belief exemptions is to improve information sources to be more user-friendly and simple for parents to learn about vaccines. In 2013, researchers at the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) cited a need for improving its website and other patient education strategies to improve childhood vaccination rates across the state (ADHS). Currently, the immunization section of ADHS website has limited parent resources, many of which are long documents without section headings or images, making it easy for parents to become overwhelmed and confused. Creating more easy-to-use sources with simple language may be one way to improve parent knowledge on the importance of early childhood vaccinations and reduce personal belief exemptions. The following paper details a website created to educate the general public on early childhood vaccinations.