Peer-reviewed article
O PAPEL DA EDUCAÇÃO EM SAÚDE NO ENFRENTAMENTO DA HESITAÇÃO VACINAL NA INFÂNCIA E ADOLESCÊNCIA
Gabrielly Boiko Ribeiro, Beatriz de Toledo Nogueira, Luiza Tatiana Forte, Paulo Eduardo Przysiezny ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This article is an integrative literature review on how health education can help address vaccine hesitancy among children and adolescents. It searched three databases (Virtual Health Library, LILACS and SciELO) for articles published between 2016 and 2025 in Portuguese and English. The studies reviewed indicated that educational strategies can increase knowledge, clear up doubts and build trust in vaccines. The authors conclude that health education works best when it is based on dialogue, personalised, continuous and adapted to the needs of each child, adolescent or guardian.
Key points
- Vaccine hesitancy is complex and multifactorial and can lower vaccination coverage.
- Lower coverage can favour the return of vaccine-preventable diseases in children and adolescents.
- Health education can expand knowledge, clarify doubts and strengthen trust in vaccines.
- Personalised educational strategies showed greater potential than standardised actions already in use.
- Education should be based on dialogue, be continuous and be adapted to each child, adolescent or guardian.
Limitations
The abstract does not state how many studies were reviewed, their countries, designs or measured effect sizes, so the strength of the evidence cannot be judged. It is a narrative review of other studies and not a test of a single intervention.
Abstract
This article aimed to discuss the role played by health education in tackling vaccine hesitancy, a complex and multifactorial phenomenon capable of compromising vaccination coverage rates and favoring the reappearance of vaccine-preventable diseases among children and adolescents. The work of PIBEX scholarship student, in the VacinAção Extension Project, sought to analyze the scientific evidence related to the role of health education in reducing vaccine hesitancy, identifying different forms of intervention, how they can be applied, and the effects they have generated. This is an integrative literature review carried out in the Virtual Health Library, Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences, and Scientific Electronic Library Online databases, gathering articles published between 2016 and 2025, in Portuguese and English, related to health education, vaccine hesitancy, and educational interventions. The studies indicated that such strategies can expand knowledge by clarifying doubts and strengthening trust in vaccines, showing greater potential than standardized actions already implemented. It is concluded that health education can contribute to tackling vaccine hesitancy when developed on the basis of dialogue and personalization, being continuous and adapted according to the needs of each child, adolescent, and/or guardian.