Psychological Factors of Vaccination Intent among Healthcare Providers, Parents, and Laypeople

Kaja Damnjanović; Sandra Ilić; Marija Kušić; Milica Lazić; Dragoslav Popović

doi:10.3390/vaccines11121816

Psychological Factors of Vaccination Intent among Healthcare Providers, Parents, and Laypeople

Vaccines (Basel). 2023 Dec 4;11(12):1816. doi: 10.3390/vaccines11121816.

Authors

Kaja Damnjanović¹, Sandra Ilić², Marija Kušić³, Milica Lazić⁴, Dragoslav Popović⁵

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory for Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychology, Institute of Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, 11000 Beograd, Serbia.
² Laboratory for Experimental Psychology, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, 11000 Beograd, Serbia.
³ Laboratory for Research of Individual Differences, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, 11000 Beograd, Serbia.
⁴ Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia.
⁵ Independent Researcher, 11000 Beograd, Serbia.

Abstract

The interrelatedness of social-structural aspects and psychological features with vaccination intention provides the context to explore personal psychological features related to vaccination. Specifically, we focused on general decision making and vaccine-related dispositions, and their contribution to the intention to vaccinate, within post-pandemic circumstances, after the imposed possibility of choosing a vaccine brand. Our study aimed to map the function (promotive, protective, risk, vulnerability) of a set of personal psychological aspects in the intention to vaccinate among people holding different social roles regarding the vaccination. We surveyed three samples of people: healthcare providers (HPs), parents, and laypeople, within the post-pandemic context. Negative vaccine attitudes lower intention to vaccinate in all regression models (all βs ranging from -0.128 to -0.983, all ps < 0.01). The main results indicate that, regardless of the sample/social role, there is a shared attitudinal core for positive vaccination intention. This core consists of [high] trust in large corporations, government, and healthcare systems, as well as perceived consensus on vaccine safety/efficacy and experience of freedom (protective factors), and [low] vaccination conspiracy beliefs, trust in social media, and choice overload (risk and vulnerability factors, respectively). There are no common promotive factors of intention to vaccinate: for parents, perceived consensus on vaccines, and trust in corporations and the healthcare system, play such roles; for HPs, the experience of freedom is obtained as a unique promotive factor. In contrast, for laypeople, no unique promotive factors were found. Our findings provide insights into the function of psychological factors of vaccination intention across different social roles, particularly healthcare providers, parents, and laypeople, and emphasize the need for tailored immunization interventions in the post-pandemic landscape.

Keywords: healthcare providers; laypeople; parents; promotive factors; protective factors; risk factors; vaccination behavior; vaccination intention; vaccine decision making; vulnerability factors.

Grants and funding

This work was supported partly by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (contract number: 451-03-47/2023-01/200163) and the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philosophy; and partly (APC incl.) by a research grant from Investigator-Iniated Studies Program of Merck Sharpe & Dohme doo (grant number #100867). The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Merck, Sharpe & Dohme doo.