Rapid Qualitative Research to Increase COVID-19 Vaccination Uptake: A Research and Intervention Tool

"To ensure high vaccination uptake among different...groups such as health workers and vulnerable patient groups, the selection and design of tailored interventions should be informed by behavioural insights into the barriers to, and drivers of, vaccination for these groups."

This qualitative tool from the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe provides step-by-step guidance on how to design and conduct rapid qualitative research with various groups to understand their barriers and drivers to COVID-19 vaccination. These insights can then be used to inform the development of tailored interventions for increased COVID-19 vaccination uptake. While the document focuses on COVID-19 vaccination, the described rapid approach can be used for any vaccination programme.

Qualitative research provides an understanding of a group's point(s) of view, what they know and don't know, and their concerns and experiences. Data are collected through semi-structured discussions that encourage participants to reflect on individual and contextual reasons for their vaccination decisions and behaviours. The advantage to this approach is that researchers can pursue insights in greater depth, whereas a quantitative survey is limited to gathering information through predetermined criteria.

Following introductory material, the resource outlines a process whose main steps include:

• Plan and conduct research
  • Establish a research working group
  • Develop a research protocol
    • Select your target groups
    • Write your research aims and objectives
    • Select your research method(s)
    • Choose your sample
    • Develop your discussion guide(s)
  • Obtain ethics approval for the research
  • Collect and analyse the data
    • Collect your data
    • Analyse your data
• Intervention design
  • Link barriers to appropriate intervention types
  • Select intervention types and plan activities to implement
• Implementation
  • Develop a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) plan
  • Implement, learn, adjust and improve

Annexes include:

• Annex A. Planning tool
• Annex B. Example of a discussion guide for a population target
• Annex C. Contents of a research protocol for ethics approval
• Annex D. Example RAP [rapid assessment procedures] sheets for health workers and population target groups
• Annex E. Examples of intervention types and activities linked to barriers and COM-B [capability, motivation, and opportunity for behaviour change model] factors
• Annex F. Template for monitoring and evaluation plan

Earlier iterations of this tool were piloted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Georgia, North Macedonia, Romania, Russian Federation, and Ukraine. Feedback from in-country national counterparts was used to improve the tool, this is being piloted in its present form in Armenia and Azerbaijan.