Exposure to objective/sensationalist information moderates associations between psychological factors and COVID-19 anti-vaccination attitudes: An experimental study

IF 4.5 3区医学 Q2 IMMUNOLOGY Vaccine Pub Date : 2024-11-11 DOI:10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.126507

Aldo Aguirre-Camacho , Beatriz Hidalgo , Joshua A. Rash

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Abstract

Background

Research examining the relationship between psychological factors and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy has been mostly based on observational designs, with little attention devoted to the role of exposure to objective/sensationalist information.

Purpose

This experimental study examined the extent to which exposure to objective or sensationalist news headlines: 1) influenced COVID-19 anti-vaccination attitudes; and 2) moderated the relationship between psychological factors and COVID-19 anti-vaccination attitudes.

Methods

123 participants (mean age = 28.55, SD = 11.44) completed measures of psychological factors previously associated with vaccine hesitancy (i.e. social norms regarding COVID-19, adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), perceived health competence, trust in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, and COVID-19 risk perception). Next, participants were randomly assigned to view nine print news headlines about COVID-19 vaccines that were depicted in objective or sensationalist terms. Finally, participants completed a measure of COVID-19 anti-vaccination attitudes. A t-test and simple slope analyses were performed to assess whether there were group differences in COVID-19 anti-vaccination attitudes between participants exposed to objective or sensationalist information, and whether exposure to objective or sensationalist information moderated the relationship between psychological factors and COVID-19 anti-vaccination attitudes, respectively.

Results

Participants exposed to sensationalist news headlines reported stronger COVID-19 anti-vaccination attitudes than those exposed to objective headlines. Exposure to objective or sensationalist news headlines moderated the relationship between several psychological factors (i.e. adherence to NPIs, perceived health competence, and trust in CAM) and COVID-19 anti-vaccination attitudes.

Conclusions

The results highlight that a joint focus on psychological factors and exposure to objective/sensationalist information may contribute to gain a better understanding of vaccine hesitancy in the context of the COVID-19 infodemic.

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接触客观/感性信息可调节心理因素与 COVID-19 反疫苗接种态度之间的关联：一项实验研究。

背景：研究心理因素与 COVID-19 疫苗接种犹豫不决之间关系的研究大多基于观察性设计，很少关注客观/耸人听闻的信息暴露所起的作用：方法：123 名参与者（平均年龄 = 28.55 岁，SD = 11.44）完成了以前与疫苗犹豫相关的心理因素测量（即关于 COVID-19 的社会规范）。方法：123 名参与者（平均年龄 = 28.55，标差 = 11.44）完成了之前与疫苗犹豫相关的心理因素测量（即 COVID-19 的社会规范、非药物干预（NPI）的坚持、感知的健康能力、对补充和替代医学（CAM）的信任、COVID-19 的阴谋信念以及 COVID-19 的风险认知）。接下来，参与者被随机分配浏览九条关于 COVID-19 疫苗的印刷新闻标题，这些标题分别以客观或煽情的方式进行描述。最后，参与者完成了一项关于 COVID-19 反疫苗接种态度的测量。通过t检验和简单斜率分析来评估接触客观或煽情信息的参与者在COVID-19反疫苗接种态度上是否存在群体差异，以及接触客观或煽情信息是否分别调节了心理因素与COVID-19反疫苗接种态度之间的关系：结果：与接触客观新闻标题的受试者相比，接触煽情新闻标题的受试者报告了更强烈的 COVID-19 反疫苗接种态度。接触客观或煽情新闻标题调节了几个心理因素（即对 NPIs 的依从性、感知健康能力和对 CAM 的信任）与 COVID-19 反疫苗接种态度之间的关系：研究结果表明，在 COVID-19 信息流行的背景下，共同关注心理因素和客观/感性信息可能有助于更好地理解疫苗接种犹豫不决的问题。

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来源期刊

Vaccine 医学-免疫学

CiteScore

8.70

自引率

5.50%

发文量

992

审稿时长

131 days

期刊介绍： Vaccine is unique in publishing the highest quality science across all disciplines relevant to the field of vaccinology - all original article submissions across basic and clinical research, vaccine manufacturing, history, public policy, behavioral science and ethics, social sciences, safety, and many other related areas are welcomed. The submission categories as given in the Guide for Authors indicate where we receive the most papers. Papers outside these major areas are also welcome and authors are encouraged to contact us with specific questions.