TY  - JOUR
DO  - 10.22454/PRiMER.2026.790636
VL  - 10
DA  - 2026/07/13
N2  - Background and Objectives: Undergraduate medical education provides limited formal training on vaccine hesitancy. This study evaluated a student-led workshop for third-year medical students on vaccine hesitancy, emphasizing historical mistrust in Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities and strategies to build confidence in addressing it.
Methods: During a family medicine clerkship rotation, 158 students completed a 90-minute workshop on vaccine hesitancy. The session addressed systemic racism and introduced three evidence-based communication tools, followed by role-play practice. At the end of the clerkship, semistructured focus groups explored the intervention’s impact on participants’ approaches to vaccine hesitancy. Students also completed pre- and postworkshop surveys to assess attitudes, confidence, and skills regarding vaccine hesitancy.
Results: Focus group analysis revealed five major themes: (1) variability in formal education addressing vaccine hesitancy; (2) the workshop’s positive impact on students’ skills, knowledge and confidence surrounding vaccine hesitancy; (3) opportunities to improve vaccine hesitancy education; (4) barriers to vaccine acceptance and administration; and (5) the value of student-led workshops and peer learning. Survey results demonstrated a statistically significant increase in students self-reported confidence in the ability to influence vaccine-hesitant individuals, educate patients on vaccination benefits, communicate effectively with hesitant patients, and dispel common vaccine myths (P<.001).
Conclusion: Medical students receive limited formal education in vaccine hesitancy. Preliminary results suggest that this student-led workshop effectively increased students’ confidence in addressing vaccine-hesitant patients and their awareness of vaccine hesitancy in BIPOC and other minority communities. Other institutions could adapt similar curricula for health professional students, trainees, or clinicians.
PB  - Society of Teachers of Family Medicine
AU  - McGuigan, Kelly
AU  - Bernstein, Eva
AU  - Marshall, Emily
AU  - Leach, William T.
AU  - Cymring, Barbara
AU  - McClowry, Robert
AU  - de la Cruz, Maria Syl D.
L2  - http://journals.stfm.org/primer/2026/mcguigan-2026-0028
L1  - http://journals.stfm.org/media/mbccwaq0/primer-10-23.pdf
TI  - Evaluation of a Medical Student Workshop on Confronting Vaccine Hesitancy: A Mixed Methods Approach
ER  -