An academic study about the Having a Vaccine resource we produced in conjunction with the University of Hertfordshire, funded by the Royal College of Nursing Foundation, has now been published. Two of the researchers from the University of Hertfordshire have written this brilliant guest blog about their findings.
Hello, our names are Helena and Natalie and we are researchers at the University of Hertfordshire. We are sharing the findings of the research project called ‘CAREVIS: Covid vaccine information with Books Beyond Words’. We were awarded money by the Royal College of Nursing Foundation to do this work.
Our project helped develop a story to provide information in pictures about having the Coronavirus vaccine. We worked with the charity ‘Beyond Words’ and people with a learning disability to design this picture book. They looked out how easy the book was to understand.
The picture book was shared widely to people with learning disabilities and people who care for them. We asked family and friends, paid carers, nurses, social workers and other professionals who provide them with support. The book was free from a website and could be printed. We shared the book through the NHS, the council, GP surgeries, Books Beyond Words, the Royal College of Nursing and other groups.
We then looked at how useful the picture book was.
We interviewed (asked questions) people with learning disabilities who used the picture book. We asked if it was helpful for understanding the vaccine.
We interviewed carers (family and friends), paid carers, nurses, and other professionals. We asked them if the picture book helped people to talk about the Coronavirus vaccine.
We looked at how many people with a learning disability have their Coronavirus vaccines around Hertfordshire.
We sent out a national questionnaire (a survey) on the internet. We wanted to see if people used the booklet, and how. We sent this to people providing support for people with learning disabilities (such as nurses, doctors, social workers).
We worked with people who have learning disabilities on the project to make sure they agreed with what we did. We worked with the Purple All Stars group at Hertfordshire Council to design the picture book, and Experts by Experience. These people helped us write the research questions that should be asked. We also brought our findings to The Purple All Stars group to see what they thought of what we had found.
What did we find?
Interviews
We interviewed 35 people in total. 11 people had a learning disability. 10 people were carers of someone with a learning disability. 14 people were health professionals who look after people with a learning disability.
Nearly everyone could understand what the book was about. People were shown having a vaccine so they could get close to friends and family again. They could also start living their lives more normally again. But, the reason for why people were having the vaccine was not clear to everyone. Some people did not like the horse picture and found it confusing. Some people said photos might be better. Not everyone liked the needle pictures or the pictures of the coronavirus.
Survey
55 people answered the internet survey.
Only half of the people had come across the booklet previously, and three quarters of the people had not used it before. People said it was helpful but there were things that could be improved in the pictures and the storyline. It was helpful for having conversations about the vaccine.
Vaccine data and planning
We looked at how many people have had the vaccine in the East of England and around Hertfordshire. By the end of December 2021:
67.1%, 20485 people had a booster (third injection) in East of England but around Hertfordshire it was higher: 72.34%, 4,519.
This is more than the national average of 66.1% of all adults in the UK had received all three vaccinations. Hertfordshire and local areas had one of the best vaccination rates in the UK.
If you have any questions please contact Helena Wythe, researcher at h.f.wythe@herts.ac.uk or Natalie Pattison at n.pattison@herts.ac.uk.
The link to the academic paper is here: Evaluating the usefulness of a wordless picture book for adults with intellectual disabilities about the COVID‐19 vaccination programme using co‐production: The CAREVIS study - Wythe - 2024 - Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities - Wiley Online Library