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Exploring vaccine hesitancy: the twofold role of critical thinking.

ABSTRACT: With the progress of the vaccination campaign against the SARS-COV-2, we are ever closer to reaching that part of the population that refuses or is hesitant about vaccination. This study investigated the association between critical thinking motivation factors (i.e., intrinsic value of critical thinking and expectancy of one's critical thinking ability), conspiracy mentality, intolerance of uncertainty and hesitancy toward vaccination. A sample of 390 participants completed an online survey during April 2021. Across participants, results indicate that conspiracy mentality and expectancy about personal ability as a critical thinker positively predict vaccine hesitancy. On the contrary, the intrinsic value attributed to critical thinking, intolerance of uncertainty, and education are negatively associated with hesitancy. While the findings confirm existing evidence, particularly on the detrimental role of conspiracy mentality on vaccine acceptance, they also shed light on the double-faced role exercised by critical thinking. Practical implications and future directions are discussed.

Supplementary information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-04165-w.

SUBMITTER: Cannito L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9795421 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Exploring vaccine hesitancy: the twofold role of critical thinking.

Cannito Loreta L Ceccato Irene I Bortolotti Alessandro A Di Crosta Adolfo A La Malva Pasquale P Palumbo Rocco R Di Domenico Alberto A Palumbo Riccardo R

Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) 20221228

With the progress of the vaccination campaign against the SARS-COV-2, we are ever closer to reaching that part of the population that refuses or is hesitant about vaccination. This study investigated the association between critical thinking motivation factors (i.e., intrinsic value of critical thinking and expectancy of one's critical thinking ability), conspiracy mentality, intolerance of uncertainty and hesitancy toward vaccination. A sample of 390 participants completed an online survey duri ...[more]

PMID: 36590014

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Project description:Vaccine hesitancy is a global health challenge in controlling the virulence of pandemics. The prevalence of vaccine hesitancy will put highly vulnerable groups, such as the elderly or groups with pre-existing health conditions, at a higher risk, as seen with the outbreak of the pandemic Covid-19. Based on the trends of vaccine hesitancy in the state of Sabah, located in East Malaysia, this study seeks to identify several variables that contribute to vaccine hesitancy. In addition to this, this study also determines which groups are affected by vaccine hesitancy based on their demographics. This study is based on a sampling of 1,024 Sabahan population aged 18 and above through an online and face-to-face questionnaire. The raw data was analysed using the K-Means Clustering Analysis, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis Test, and frequency. The K-Means Clustering found that more than half of the total number of respondents (Cluster 2 = 51.9%) tend to demonstrate vaccine hesitancy. Based on the PCA analysis, six main factors were found to cause vaccine hesitancy in Sabah: confidence (var(X) = 21.6%), the influence of local authority (var(X) = 12.1%), ineffectiveness of mainstream media (var(X) = 8.4%), complacency (var(X) = 7.4%), social media (var(X) = 6.4%), and convenience issues (var(X) = 5.8%). Findings from both Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests demonstrate that several factors of group demographics, such as employment status, level of education, religion, gender, and marital status, may explain the indicator of vaccine hesitancy. In particular, specific groups tend to become vaccine hesitancy such as, unemployed, self-employed, students, male, single, level of education, and Muslim. Findings from this empirical study are crucial to inform the relevant local authorities on the level of vulnerability among certain groups in facing the hazards of COVID-19. The main contribution of this study is that it seeks to analyse the factors behind vaccine hesitancy and identifies which groups more likely hesitant toward vaccines based on their demographics.

Dataset Information

Exploring vaccine hesitancy: the twofold role of critical thinking.

Supplementary information

Publications

Exploring vaccine hesitancy: the twofold role of critical thinking.

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