TABLE 6.

Strategies Used and Perceived Effectiveness of Strategies by Specialty (n = 453)

	Frequency	FM, %	Peds, %	P	Effectiveness	FM, %	Peds, %	P
Informing the parents that you immunize (or would immunize) your own children according to the recommended schedule.	Often or always	63	68	.93	Very	19	20	.51
	Sometimes	29	22		Somewhat	67	62
	Rarely/never	7	10		Not very/not at all	14	17
Explaining that deviating from the current vaccination schedule puts their child at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases.	Often or always	55	76	<.0001	Very	8	10	.84
	Sometimes	25	16		Somewhat	57	53
	Rarely/never	20	8		Not very/not at all	35	37
Informing parents that “spreading out” vaccines is against your recommendation.	Often or always	55	73	<.0001	Very	5	8	.57
	Sometimes	24	17		Somewhat	56	49
	Rarely/never	21	10		Not very/not at all	39	43
Discussing recent outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases with parents.	Often or always	46	70	.001	Very	14	15	.43
	Sometimes	45	23		Somewhat	61	56
	Rarely/never	10	8		Not very/not at all	25	29
Telling parents that you think it is more painful for their child to come back for multiple visits for shots rather than get them all at once.	Often or always	44	53	.15	Very	10	8	<.0001
	Sometimes	34	29		Somewhat	57	39
	Rarely/never	22	18		Not very/not at all	33	53
Explaining that alternative schedules have not been well studied for safety or effectiveness and that the recommended schedule has.	Often or always	42	54	.04	Very	2	5	.14
	Sometimes	37	29		Somewhat	53	41
	Rarely/never	21	17		Not very/not at all	45	55
Involving the parent in vaccine administration by having them hold their child in a comforting way.	Often or always	55	45	.003	Very	17	11	.0005
	Sometimes	31	29		Somewhat	42	31
	Rarely/never	15	26		Not very/not at all	41	58
Explaining that deviating from the current schedule puts other people at risk for vaccine preventable diseases.	Often or always	41	54	.0001	Very	2	2	.01
	Sometimes	28	30		Somewhat	39	27
	Rarely/never	31	16		Not very/not at all	58	71
Offering to ease the pain of the child’s shots by allowing them to breastfeed or bottle-feed.	Often or always	30	19	.07	Very	8	4	.01
	Sometimes	31	36		Somewhat	37	29
	Rarely/never	40	45		Not very/not at all	55	67
Offering to the parent that they can leave the room during vaccine administration.	Often or always	21	19	.41	Very	3	4	.02
	Sometimes	32	31		Somewhat	31	18
	Rarely/never	47	50		Not very/not at all	66	78
Informing parents that they will be charged for any extra visits as a result of “spreading out” vaccines.	Often or always	6	12	.03	Very	1	4	.21
	Sometimes	15	17		Somewhat	28	17
	Rarely/never	79	71		Not very/not at all	72	79
Offering to ease the pain of the child’s shots by using anesthetic cream or other numbing medication.	Often or always	3	3	.65	Very	2	3	.56
	Sometimes	11	9		Somewhat	25	20
	Rarely/never	86	88		Not very/not at all	74	77
Informing parents that if they want to “spread out” the vaccine series, they should seek care from a different provider.	Often or always	1	4	.008	Very	3	4	.31
	Sometimes	2	5		Somewhat	11	12
	Rarely/never	97	91		Not very/not at all	87	83
Informing parents that your office does not have the capacity to handle children coming back for multiple shot visits.	Often or always	2	2	0.89	Very	1	0	.02
	Sometimes	3	3		Somewhat	9	4
	Rarely/never	95	95		Not very/not at all	90	96

All P values are Mantel-Haenszel χ² tests. FM, family medicine physicians; Peds, pediatricians.