Title : The impact of age on the relationship between predictors of and vaccine hesitancy
Abstract:
Purpose:
Grassman (2021) noted that in December 2020, 67% of adults in the United States indicated they would accept the COVID-19 vaccine. The government was hoping to achieve Herd Immunity by having 70% of the population vaccinated. However, by fall 2021 only 58.9% of the United States population was fully vaccinated against the coronavirus (CDC, 2021). The purpose of this study was to understand the reasons why people decided to accept or decline a COVID-19 vaccine and to identify the determinants that changed their decisions over time. Background : Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccination despite availability of vaccination services (MacDonald, 2015). Some African Americans tended to be distrustful of the COVID-19 vaccine and invariably refer to ethical violations such as the Tuskegee study or Henrietta Lacks (Shackelford & Maragh-Bass, 2021). There are others who refused vaccines because of religious reasons. Currently measures assessing the reasons for vaccine hesitancy focus on confidence in vaccines, complacency, constraints, calculation, and aspects pertaining to collective responsibility. It is possible that there are factors affecting the decision to accept the vaccine, implying the existence of vaccine hesitancy. Research questions included the following: To what extent does COVID19 vaccine hesitancy result from psychological beliefs? To what extent does COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy result from religious beliefs? To what extent does COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy result from mistrust?
Theoretical Framework : Social Cognitive theory was used to address the factors that predict the improvement of patient outcomes. According to Social Cognitive theory an individual’s experiences, interactions with others, as well as environmental factors influence a person’s health behaviors (Bandura 1986).
Methods: This study was a quantitative correlational study where participants provided data online. All 106 participants were asked to self-report on demographic information, complete the 5C Psychological Measuring Antecedents of Vaccination scale, the Spiritual Assessment scale, and the Group-Based Medical Mistrust Scale. The 5C Psychological Antecedents of Vaccination scale was completed twice to ascertain vaccine hesitancy. Results: The sample was comprised of mainly women. Correlations were completed between demographic variables and the scales that were completed by the participants. There were many significant correlations but of note were those between Medical Mistrust, Confidence, Age, and Collective responsibility and Vaccine Hesitancy. Also Age mediated the relationship between Confidence and Collective responsibility and Vaccine hesitancy. Conclusions & Implications : Analyses supported the research questions that pertained aspects of psychological believes and mistrust, regarding vaccine hesitancy. It was surprising that religion was a poor predictor of vaccine hesitancy. This study was limited in the sample size and diversity, therefore the results are not generalizable. Future research should include a larger sample size and a more diverse population.
