The Role of Language and Cultural Background on Young Adults’ Covid-19 Vaccination Plans in Quebec

*Lay abstract currently unavailable.

The first vaccination effort against Covid-19 started in December 2020, and as of June 2021 over 2 billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered worldwide. However, posing a problem to vaccination efforts is the concept of vaccine hesitancy which refers to a delay or refusal of vaccine services. Data prior to Covid-19 demonstrates that vaccine hesitancy was an issue in Quebec, Canada where 32.2% of respondents in a study revealed being vaccine-hesitant in general. Currently, as of June 2021, 30% of the Quebec population have not yet received their first dose of the vaccine against Covid-19. Elsewhere, a large study conducted in the UK reveals that ethnic minorities may be more reluctant to vaccinate with 72% of Blacks reporting being unlikely to get vaccinated for Covid-19. Barriers such as culture, religion, and language influence immunization decisions.

Key causes of vaccine hesitancy include misinformation through platforms such as social media and lack of health literacy in regards to knowledge about vaccines. Social media outlets such as Facebook allow individuals to connect in healthy ways. However, it also allows misinformation to spread rapidly across social networks leading to over-exposure of health-related misinformation such as anti-vaccine campaigns. A possible solution is to create policies that target the promotion of critical thinking skills in health and internet literacy especially among youth because they are heavy consumers of social media. Health literacy is defined as a set of competencies that allow individuals to make decisions concerning their quality of life and influences various health behaviours such as vaccine uptake. Health literacy has been linked to hepatitis B vaccination in men, and contributes to vaccine safety confidence as well. Thus, understanding the role of social media misinformation and health and vaccine literacy among vulnerable groups is a priority to control the spread of Covid-19.

Objectives:

1. To elucidate the language needs of at-risk vulnerable groups for vaccination services in Quebec.

2. To understand risk factors for under immunization in Quebec and promote more inclusion.

3. To gain insights on communication strategies for vaccination campaigns in a technological era

How Healthcare Professionals’ Communication Style Influences Black Language Minority Health Service Users’ Perceived Acceptability and Satisfaction with Healthcare Access in Quebec and Ontario

Official language minorities face language barriers when it comes to accessing health services but many of them also face racial/cultural barriers.

The healthcare system strives to ensure the health of all people equally regardless of race or language. Health-care workers communicate directly with patients and these interactions play a role in how the patients view the health care system. How the patients view the healthcare system will have implications for how they use it (Penchansky & Thomas, 1981).

The project plans to explore and highlight the importance of patient and healthcare workers communication interactions on perceptions of healthcare access from a self-determination theory perspective. The research could help protect more vulnerable groups by participating in investigations on how to reduce inequalities in healthcare access for visible and language minorities. Do health care workers’ level of language proficiency impact perceived autonomy support and perceived access to health? How do previous experiences with healthcare workers impact subsequent perceived access to health care for black linguistic minorities in Quebec and Ontario? How do race and language combine to make interactions with healthcare workers affect perceptions of autonomy support for black linguistic minorities?