The effects of parent's health literacy and health beliefs on vaccine hesitancy.
Vaccine
; 41(13): 2120-2126, 2023 03 24.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2288499
ABSTRACT
Parental vaccine hesitancy is a key factor influencing children's vaccination against infectious diseases such as the COVID-19. The current study aims to investigate how parent's health literacy and health belief affect parental hesitancy toward the COVID-19 vaccination, and navigate effective measures to help parents make vaccination decision for children. A mixed-mode web survey was conducted among parents of children aged 3-11 years. Parental vaccine hesitancy, health literacy, and health beliefs were assessed. Parallel mediation model examined whether the association between parent's health literacy and vaccine hesitancy was mediated by health beliefs. In total, 11.3% of the 346 participants reported vaccine hesitancy. Hesitant parents were more likely to be he mother (Father 4.5%; Mother 12.9%) and with children having allergic issues (Allergic 18.3%; Non-allergic 9.8%). Meanwhile, parents with lower health literacy were more likely to show hesitancy towards vaccinating their children (ß = -6.87, 95% CI = [-10.50, -3.11]). This relationship was partially mediated by more perceived barriers in vaccination (ß = -2.53, 95%CI = [-4.09, -1.02]), but not other health beliefs. In other words, parents with better health literacy may perceive fewer barriers in making vaccination decision for their children, thus being less hesitant. Accordingly, healthcare professionals and policy makers could design education service to promote parents' health literacy, and remove the perceived barriers as well as increase their confidence in following the COVID-19 vaccine guidance for children.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Health Literacy
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Journal:
Vaccine
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.vaccine.2023.02.026
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