Langmuir, Tori;
Wilson, Mackenzie;
McCleary, Nicola;
Patey, Andrea M;
Mekki, Karim;
Ghazal, Hanan;
Estey Noad, Elizabeth;
... Presseau, Justin; + view all
(2025)
Strategies and resources used by public health units to encourage COVID-19 vaccination among priority groups: a behavioural science-informed review of three urban centres in Canada.
BMC Public Health
, 25
(1)
, Article 403. 10.1186/s12889-025-21342-1.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Ensuring widespread COVID-19 vaccine uptake is a public health priority in Canada and globally, particularly within communities that exhibit lower uptake rates and are at a higher risk of infection. Public health units (PHUs) have leveraged many resources to promote the uptake of recommended COVID-19 vaccine doses. Understanding barriers and facilitators to vaccine uptake, and which strategies/resources have been used to address them to date, may help identify areas where further support could be provided. We sought to identify the strategies/resources used by PHUs to promote the uptake of the first and third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine among priority groups in their jurisdictions. We examined the alignment of these existing strategies/resources with behavioral science principles, to inform potential complementary strategies/resources. METHODS: We reviewed the online and in-person strategies/resources used by three PHUs in Ontario, Canada to promote COVID-19 vaccine uptake among priority groups (Black and Eastern European populations, and/or neighbourhoods with low vaccine uptake or socioeconomic status). Strategies/resources were identified from PHU websites, social media, and PHU liaison. We used the Behaviour Change Techniques (BCT) Taxonomy - which describes 93 different ways of supporting behaviour change - to categorise the types of strategies/resources used, and the Theoretical Domains Framework - which synthesises 14 factors that can be barriers or facilitators to decisions and actions - to categorise the barriers and facilitators addressed by strategies/resources. RESULTS: PHUs operationalised 21 out of 93 BCTs, ranging from 15 to 20 BCTs per PHU. The most frequently operationalised BCTs were found in strategies/resources that provided information about COVID-19 infection and vaccines, increased access to COVID-19 vaccination, and integrated social supports such as community ambassadors and engagement sessions with healthcare professionals. Identified BCTs aligned most frequently with addressing barriers and facilitators related to Knowledge, Environmental context and resources, and Beliefs about consequences domains. CONCLUSION: PHUs have used several BCTs to address different barriers and facilitators to COVID-19 vaccine uptake for priority groups. Opportunities should be pursued to broaden the scope of BCTs used (e.g., operationalizing the pros and cons BCT) and barriers/facilitators addressed in strategies/resources for ongoing and future COVID-19 vaccine uptake efforts among general and prioritised populations.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Strategies and resources used by public health units to encourage COVID-19 vaccination among priority groups: a behavioural science-informed review of three urban centres in Canada |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12889-025-21342-1 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21342-1 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http: //creativecommo ns. org/lice ns e s/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Behavioural science, Booster dose, COVID-19 vaccine, Community engagement, Equity deserving, Health psychology, Priority groups, Vaccine uptake, Humans, COVID-19 Vaccines, COVID-19, Ontario, Behavioral Sciences, Public Health, Vaccination, Canada |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10204420 |
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