We would like to invite you to take part in this study. You should only take part if you want to; choosing not to take part will not disadvantage you in any way. The study has been granted full ethical approval by [insert reference here]. All the information that we collect will be kept strictly confidential and in accordance with the UK Data Protection Act 1998. This study forms part of a PhD project at King’s College London.  

The aim of this research is to understand what parents think about the possibility of side-effects from the childhood flu vaccine, to measure whether parents observe side-effects from the vaccine and to test whether the presence of side-effects affects whether a parent will want their child to be vaccinated again in the future.  You can take part in the survey if you are 18 or older, speak fluent English and are the parent or guardian of a child born between September 1st 2011 and August 31st 2014 who is about to have the child flu vaccine.

If you take part, you will be asked to complete a short questionnaire and word sorting task (approximately 10 minutes long) immediately before your child is vaccinated. In three days’ time, we will ask you to complete another short questionnaire. In one month’s time, we will ask you to complete a final short questionnaire. There are some additional questions that you can complete either after the second or third questionnaire or in your own time. The questionnaires will include questions about what you have heard about the flu vaccine, your child’s previous experience with vaccinations and whether you think your child is sensitive to medicines, as well as whether you notice side-effects in your child and if you intend to vaccinate your child again next year. When you have completed all parts of the study we will donate £20 to one of three charities (you can choose between Save the Children, NSPCC or Great Ormond Street Hospital).

We would also like to know if your child is vaccinated in the 2017/18 flu season. We will ask your child’s GP to give us this information. In order to do this, we will have to inform your child’s GP that your child has been enrolled in the study: we will not disclose any other information to them. If we cannot confirm your child’s vaccination status from their GP, we will contact you to ask whether or not they were vaccinated. If you are not happy for us to speak to your child’s GP, then please let the researcher know.

For more details, please see the full information sheet at http://epr.hpru.nihr.ac.uk/child-flu-study or if you would like more details about the survey, please contact the lead researcher at King’s College London (Louise Smith). Her details are:

Louise Smith                               

King’s College London, Department of Psychological Medicine                 

Weston Education Centre, Cutcombe Road, London SE5 9RJ                                  

Phone: +44(0)20 7848 5145, e-mail: louise.7.smith@kcl.ac.uk

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TAKE PART IN THE STUDY, PLEASE CLICK HERE TO START

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