Investigators
A/Prof Hannah C Moore, Dr Samantha Carlson, Ms Paige Wood-Kenney, Prof Peter Richmond, Dr Annette Regan, Ms Amber Bates, Ms Catherine Hughes, Ms Sharon Wood-Kenney, Ms Charlie Holland (Student)
Project description
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is one of the most common reasons babies are admitted to hospital – with Aboriginal and preterm infants at greatest risk. The World Health Organization has indicated RSV vaccination priority groups as: 1) pregnant women, and 2) infants/young children. Several prevention products are in advanced clinical trials and are likely to be licensed soon.
This presents the opportunity to start building a body of research to understand the RSV information needs of Australian parents for when products are available. Our hypothesis is that community awareness of RSV is low, creating a difficult “sell” of prevention products to parents despite the apparent clinical need – prevention products only work if they are acceptable and received. In this project, we will implement a community online survey assessing the level of RSV awareness in comparison to other childhood respiratory infections. We will work with community partners to distribute the survey to pregnant women and families. This information will a) inform future studies developing RSV prevention communication tools, and b) provide pilot data on the attitudes towards RSV prevention. This evidence will be vital for successful implementation of RSV prevention policies.
Funders
This work is funded by the Wesfarmers Centre for Vaccines & Infectious Diseases