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To vaccinate or not to vaccinate: how teenagers justified their decision
Malmö högskola, Faculty of Education and Society (LS), Department of Nature, Environment and Society (NMS).ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7061-533x
Malmö högskola, Faculty of Education and Society (LS), Department of Nature, Environment and Society (NMS).
Malmö högskola, Faculty of Education and Society (LS), Department of Nature, Environment and Society (NMS).ORCID iD: 0000-0001-6389-0686
2012 (English)In: Cultural Studies of Science Education, ISSN 1871-1502, E-ISSN 1871-1510, Vol. 7, no 1, p. 193-221Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

This article reports on a study of how teenagers made their decision on whether or not to vaccinate themselves against the new influenza. Its purpose was to identify connections between how teenagers talk about themselves and the decision they made. How do the teenagers construct their identities while talking about a specific socio-scientific issue? Seven teenagers between 17 to 19 years of age participated in the study. The informants were requested to document in video diary situations in which their decisions about the vaccination were discussed. All the teenagers recorded their diaries during the weeks of the vaccination programme. The students were also interviewed 1-4 weeks after completing their diaries. A discourse psychology framework (Potter and Wetherell, 1987) was used to analyse the video diaries and the interviews. In this context, decision-making on a socio-scientific issue must be understood as an appropriation and use of discursive repertoires, and also as meaning-making in relation to other fields, such as society and identity. It must also be understood in relation to the use of science repertoire - or actually, the school science repertoire – how available is this discourse in different contexts outside school? The repertoires were categorised into two main types; experienced emphases and important actors. The first included the categories of risk, solidarity and knowledge. The second included family and friends, media, school and society. The school repertoire was seldom used by the students, indicating that school and science education seem not to be an interpretative repertoire available to them. Instead, the risk, solidarity, family and friends and the media repertoires were available in their talk about vaccination. These results indicate the need to use media reports in dealing with scientific literacy and also in risk assessment discussions in school. It also indicates the importance of relating school science closely to the students’ daily life.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer, 2012. Vol. 7, no 1, p. 193-221
Keywords [en]
new influenza, discourse psychology, health, risk, trustworthiness
National Category
Social Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-3415DOI: 10.1007/s11422-012-9384-4ISI: 000214437000014Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84857142739Local ID: 14789OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mau-3415DiVA, id: diva2:1400216
Available from: 2020-02-28 Created: 2020-02-28 Last updated: 2024-02-05Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Decision-making in health issues: Teenagers' use of science and other discourses
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Decision-making in health issues: Teenagers' use of science and other discourses
2011 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

The purpose of this thesis is to develop knowledge about young individuals’ reasoning and how they justify their standpoints concerning trustworthiness and decision-making in issues connected to health where available information is contradictory or uncertain. This purpose has been addressed in three different steps. In the first step almost 300 students in Swedish upper secondary school answered a web-based questionnaire, which had different types of multiple choice questions about pseudoscience and science. The results demonstrated large differences in acceptance between the different pseudoscientific statements. But there was no statement where the majority of the students agreed with the statement. There was no apparent relationship between the students’ pseudoscientific beliefs and their factual knowledge about the human body. However, the analysis revealed that students who have taken three or more science courses in upper secondary have relatively lower faith to pseudoscientific ideas. The results did not indicate any sex difference with regard to strength of faith in pseudoscientific ideas. In the second step, first year students from the science programme were observed and video-taped during two lessons, while discussing different explanation models in health. They worked in peer-groups with three to five students. The students discussed two different cases which contained a question and then two proposed answers that differed a great deal from each other with respect to scientific level. The results demonstrated that the students used four different types of epistemological resources; relativistic, normative, authoritative and scientific, when supporting their arguments about trustworthiness. No student clearly used resources from pseudoscience. The use of scientific epistemological resources was rare. Instead normative or authoritative resources appeared to be more available or more context appropriate for the students in this study. The study also demonstrated that students were able to use different epistemological resources in different situations, for example when the teacher joined the discussion and put some challenging questions to the group. In the third step, seven teenagers, 17-19 years old, participated in a video diary study and an individual interview. Four girls and three boys documented their decision-making about the new influenza and vaccination against it. The data collection was thus mainly performed outside school, in everyday life surroundings, when the teenagers justified their decision about the vaccination. The different statements and answers were categorised using discourse psychology. The categorised repertoires were of two main types; experienced emphasis and important actors. The first category comprised risk, solidarity and knowledge. In the second family and friends, media, school and society were included. The school repertoire was seldom used by the students, indicating that school and science education are not available interpretative repertoires in this context. The results demonstrate the difficulties for the teenagers to use science knowledge, in the format of correct facts or concepts. However, at the same time the results demonstrate presence and reasoning concerning the importance of scientific knowledge. This scientific discourse seems to be important when teenagers reason, make decisions and justifies their decisions in health issues. The results also raise methodological questions concerning how to investigate scientific literacy. Video diaries is suggested as an appropriate data collection tool to investigate scientific literacy in an out-of-school context. With the use of video diaries, the possibilities to investigate everyday life and decision-making go beyond the classroom.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Malmö University, 2011. p. 209
Series
Malmö Studies in Educational Sciences: Doctoral Dissertation Series, ISSN 1651-4513, E-ISSN 2004-9161 ; 64
Keywords
discourse, epistemological resources, health literacy, identity construction, interpretative repertoire, pseudoscience, science, scientific literacy, trustworthiness, video diary
National Category
Social Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-7576 (URN)12460 (Local ID)978-91-86295-15-8 (ISBN)12460 (Archive number)12460 (OAI)
Note

Paper II and III in dissertation as accepted manuscript. Paper IV in dissertation as manuscript.

Available from: 2020-02-28 Created: 2020-02-28 Last updated: 2025-04-06Bibliographically approved

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Lundström, MatsEkborg, MargaretaIdeland, Malin

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