Examination of Nursing Staffs' Perceptions of the COVID-19 Vaccine Using the Health Belief Model.
Aidan Cossio, Wilson Cobb, Addison Fugitt and 3 others
PMID 38318811WHAT IT FOUND
Protecting others' health was the strongest reported reason for nurses to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Concerns about vaccine safety were rated much lower than benefits. Mandate influence was low, but exemptions strongly predicted unvaccinated status.
Key findings
01Concern for others' health was the highest-rated influence on vaccination status (mean 84.44 on a 0-100 scale), followed by belief that the vaccine prevents illness (81.85) and concern for own health (79.63).
02Perceived risks such as vaccine harming others (15.74), natural immunity sufficiency (24.92), and vaccine being unsafe (26.65) were rated significantly lower than protective benefits.
03Of the 22 unvaccinated participants, 17 were exempt from vaccine mandates, indicating that exemption status was a strong predictor of non-vaccination in this sample.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was recruited via social media and email, which may introduce selection bias and limit generalizability to all practicing nurses. Only 22 participants were unvaccinated, making it statistically difficult to predict factors associated with non-vaccination. The survey was developed for this study and had not undergone testing beyond content validity. Data collection occurred in spring 2022, so beliefs may have changed with subsequent variants or vaccine updates. Missing data were imputed, which may introduce bias.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no financial support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that mandates were ineffective because the mandate influence rating was low (25.04). The data shows that 17 of the 22 unvaccinated nurses had exemptions, suggesting that the ability to opt out, rather than the mandate itself, was the critical factor for the small group who remained unvaccinated.