“A Victim of Our Own Success
” Testing Jenny’s First Sleepover’s Dark Satire to Improve Attitudes Toward Childhood Vaccination
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21617317 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert Mckeever (0000-0002-5924-0514, University of Alabama, corresponding author), Beth Sundstrom (0000-0002-6306-2941, Department of Communication, College of Charleston), Matthew E Rhodes (0000-0002-7917-8172, Department of Biology, College of Charleston), Emily Ritter (Department of Biology, College of Charleston), Brooke W Mckeever (0000-0002-2607-5217, University of Alabama) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 27-35 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Health Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1041-0236 • E-ISSN: 1532-7027 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10410236.2024.2330121 |
| PMID | 38514995 |
| OpenAlex | W4393092590 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 38 |
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in substantially lower uptake of childhood vaccinations in the U.S. As vaccination rates struggle to rebound, childhood vaccine hesitancy continues to grow. Addressing vaccine disinformation and increasing catch-up vaccination is an urgent public health priority. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of "Jenny's First Sleepover," a darkly humorous satirical book about childhood vaccinations, to influence attitudes of vaccine hesitant parents. This study implemented a randomized pretest - posttest experimental design using a web-based survey with one intervention and one control. "Jenny's First Sleepover" improved attitudes toward vaccination among vaccine hesitant parents. Negative emotions were an important mediator of attitudes toward vaccinations. Findings identify mechanisms that increase effectiveness of satirical approaches, including the presentation of novel information about serious vaccine-preventable diseases with a dark narrative twist. Health communicators may consider a darkly humorous satirical approach to improve attitudes toward childhood vaccination among vaccine hesitant parents
Disinformation · Family medicine · Narrative · Political science · Psychiatry · Social media · Vaccination · Humor Studies and Applications · Medicine · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology · Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy · Immunology
Entertainment-Education in the Context of Humor
Measuring vaccine hesitancy
Communicating with parents about vaccination
Your Eyes Do Not Lie! Dissecting Humor Effects in Health Messages Using Eye Tracker Technology
Mapping the anti-vaccination movement on Facebook
Applying the Theory of Motivated Information Management to the Context of Conflicting Online Health Information
Silent Majority
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |