Human papillomavirus vaccination and respect for children’s developing autonomy: Results from an European Union wide study
File(s)1367493519852476.pdf (615.67 KB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Children’s rights to autonomy of choice are differently expressed throughout Europe. We explored differences regarding expressions of respect for children’s autonomy throughout Europe, using the procedure of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination offer as indicator. We used a mixed methods approach, utilizing an expert survey within the frame of “Models of Child Health Appraised” (MOCHA), among all 30 European Union (EU) and European Economic Area states. A questionnaire was designed using vignettes regarding the vaccine provision. Thirty MOCHA country agents were invited to respond from June 2017 to April 2018. In total, 28 country agents responded. We studied the following themes: (i) provision of informed consent, (ii) parental and medical paternalism, (iii) relevance of the child’s chronological age or maturity, and (iv) vaccination programs targeting boys. These are being handled differently across the region. We explored associations of these implemented practices with the national vaccine coverage rate across Europe. We used the processes of HPV vaccination to study child’s autonomy, the paradigm change toward libertarian paternalism and issues of sex-equity. Interestingly, greater respect for children’s autonomy tends to be associated with medium or high vaccination coverage rates and lower respect with lower rates. Respect and empowerment seem to have practical as well as moral benefits. Identifying and transferring the most suitable ethical approaches is crucial and should be strengthened.
Date Issued
2019-05-27
Date Acceptance
2019-05-01
Citation
Journal of Child Health Care, 2019, 23 (3), pp.343-357
ISSN
1367-4935
Publisher
SAGE
Start Page
343
End Page
357
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Child Health Care
Volume
23
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2019 The Authors. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Sponsor
European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
Identifier
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1367493519852476
Grant Number
634201
Subjects
Child health
Europe
papillomavirus vaccines
personal autonomy
vaccination
vaccination coverage
1110 Nursing
1117 Public Health and Health Services
1114 Paediatrics and Reproductive Medicine
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2019-05-27