Development and validation of a scale to assess hesitancy towards new vaccines

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Zagazig University, Department of community medicine

2 Zagazig University, faculty of medicine, community medicine department

3 Zagazig University, Faculty of Medicine, Community Medicine Department

Abstract

Background: Assessing the hesitancy towards a new vaccine is of worldwide concern, as a delay in vaccination may give rise to the development of new mutant variants that can attack immunity conferred by previous infection or vaccine. Aim: This study aimed to design and validate a scale to assess the hesitancy towards newly produced vaccine based on health belief model traditional variables with application on COVID-19 vaccines.
Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among heterogeneous group of Egyptian citizens above 18 years old. A survey was distributed on social media platforms between June 1, 2021, and June 30, 2021. The design and evaluation of the scale went through three phases: item development, scale development, and evaluation.
Results: The sampling adequacy of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure was 0.8 at significance level of Bartlett's test of sphericity Conclusion: The designed scale to assess hesitancy towards new vaccines based on health belief model was valid among the studied population; also, it was a reliable scale according to Cronbach’s alpha.

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