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No Vax? No Visit: A Study of Social Connectedness and Mental Health Impacts

This Project is actively recruiting close friends and extended family members of children 0-5 in Australia to participate in a short online survey (15-20 minutes) – the Participant Information Form and survey can be accessed HERE.

The issue: No Vax? No Visit! is a social movement and family-level approach where new parents may ask visitors to be up to date with whooping cough vaccination before meeting their newborn. Designed to improve public health outcomes, this movement has sparked debate due to concerns over vaccine hesitancy, social isolation, and potential divisions within families and communities. Despite Department of Health recommendations for adult household members and people in close contact with infants to receive the whooping cough vaccine and a recent rise in whooping cough cases across Australia, many parents face vaccine hesitancy/refusal in their support networks. New parents are already at higher risk of postnatal depression, social isolation, and loneliness, which may inadvertently be worsened by No Vax? No Visit! conversations and compliance challenges.

Project summary: This mixed-methods study employs a sequential exploratory design to develop evidence-informed health promotion strategies that address the impact of No Vax? No Visit! on the social connectedness and mental health of new parents in Australia. The study combines content analysis of social media posts from parenting forums with online surveys targeting parents of young children (0-5 years) and their extended family members / support networks.

Target groups:

Primary: Parents and legal guardians of children aged 0-5 living in Australia
Secondary: Extended family members and close friends of parents / legal guardians of children aged 0-5 living in Australia

Study objectives:

Identify barriers and enablers to vaccination promotion and new parents acquiring social support during the postnatal period
Explore attitudes towards vaccines and experiences with No Vax? No Visit! among target groups
Analyse associations between vaccination attitudes, experiences with No Vax? No Visit!, and social connectedness and mental health outcomes among target groups
Develop recommendations for health promotion strategies that promote both infant protection and parental social connectedness and mental health

Who is involved?

Dr Krysten Blackford (Project Lead / Chief Investigator)
Prof Sharyn Burns (Co-Investigator)
Dr Daniel Rudaizky (Co-Investigator)
A/Prof Jun Chih (Co-Investigator)
Dr Rochelle Tobin (Co-Investigator)
Ashton Hay (Project Officer)

Progress:

The project is currently in the data collection phase.

They are actively recruiting parents and legal guardians of children aged 0-5 in Australia to participate in a short online survey (15-20 minutes) – the Participant Information Form and survey can be accessed HERE.
Recruitment of extended family members and close friends will commence mid-September 2025.
Analysis and reporting phases will follow completion of data collection.

More Information: Please email Dr Krysten Blackford (k.blackford@curtin.edu.au).

Ethics approval: This research has been approved by Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee (HRE2025-0439).