PhD defence Lieve Vonken

Keywords: Antibiotic Resistance, Healthcare Professionals, Perceptions, Behavior Change

"Unraveling How Healthcare Professionals Perceive Antibiotic Resistance: From Perceptions to Practice"

This thesis investigated how healthcare professionals perceive antibiotic resistance (ABR), if these perceptions can be changed, and what influences the adoption of new antibacterial technologies. A systematic review of scientific literature, interviews and questionnaires revealed that ABR is often seen as a distant and abstract problem, with causes attributed to external factors. Healthcare professionals perceive their own actions as having limited impact, which might reduce their motivation to act against ABR. An experiment showed that narrative communication did not significantly increase perceived susceptibility to ABR. Risk communication to healthcare professionals should not emphasize the general severity of antibiotic resistance. Rather, it should explain how antibiotic resistance may affect them and what they can do to mitigate it. On the other hand, developing and implementing new antibacterial technologies might also be an entry point for system change.

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