Determining the Relationship Between Coronavirus Anxiety and Attitudes Towards the COVID-19 Vaccination in Students from Vocational School of Health Services

Abstract

Aim: This research was aimed to determine the relationship between coronavirus anxiety and attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccination in students from the vocational school of health services. Material and Method: This cross-sectional study was completed with 700 students attending the Vocational School of Health Services at a university in eastern Turkey in the 2020–2021 academic year. The data were collected through an online survey via the Social media platform (Whatsapp) between 15–31 January 2021. The data were collected Student Information Form, Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, and Attitude towards the COVID-19 Vaccine. The data were evaluated using the SPSS 22.0 program with standard deviation, mean, percentage, number, t-test in independent groups, one-way analysis of variance, and Spearman rho correlation analysis. The statistical significance level was taken as p<0.05. Results: Attitudes Towards the COVID-19 Vaccine Scale positive attitude subscale mean score of the students was moderate (11.07±4.03), and their Attitudes Towards the COVID-19 Vaccine Scale negative attitude subscale mean score (15.37±3.64) was moderate. The Coronavirus Anxiety Scale mean score (6.81±3.42) was low. It was found that the students who suffered from a chronic disease, had family members with a chronic disease, had family members infected with COVID-19, and lost a family member due to COVID-19 had higher Coronavirus Anxiety Scale mean scores compared to the other students and this was statistically significant. Conclusion: These results highlight that training should be planned to increase students’ positive attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine.

Keywords

• anxiety
• Covid-19 vaccine
• student

References

1. 1. Peng Y, Pei C, Zheng Y, Wang J, Zhang K, Zheng Z, et al. A cross-sectional survey of knowledge, attitude and practice associated with COVID-19 among undergraduate students in China. BMC Public Health 2020;20:1292
2. 2. Erhan Ç, Gümüş Ş. Küresel salgın sonrasında yükseköğretimde fırsatlar ve riskler: Üniversitelerin geleceği. İçinde: Şeker, M., Özer, A. ve Korkut, C. (Eds.). Küresel salgının anatomisi insan ve toplumun geleceği, TÜBA, Ankara, 2020:195-209.
3. 3. Memiş Doğan M, Düzel B. Covid-19 özelinde korku-kaygı düzeyleri. Turkish Studies,2020;15(4):739-52.
4. 4. Sancar B, Yalcin AS, Acikgoz I. “an examination of anxiety levels of nursing students caring for patients in terminal period”. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 2018;34 (1):94-99.
5. 5. Kaparounaki CK, Patsali ME, Mousa DV, Papadopoulou EVK, Papadopoulou KKK, Fountoulakis KN. University students’ mental health amidst the COVID-19 quarantine in Greece. Psychiatry Res. 2020;290:113111.
6. 6. Islam M.S, Sujan MSH, Tasnim R, Sikder MT, Potenza MN, van Os J (2020) Psychological. responses during the COVID-19 outbreak among university students in Bangladesh. PLoS ONE 15(12)2020: e0245083.
7. 7. Wang K, Wong ELY, Ho KF, Cheung AWL, Chan EYY, Yeoh EK, et al. Intention of nurses to accept coronavirus disease 2019 vaccination and change of intention to accept seasonal influenza vaccination during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey. Vaccine. 2020;38(45):7049-56.
8. 8. Hala Mohamed Sanad. Stress and anxiety among junior nursing students during the ınitial clinical training:a descriptive study at college of health sciences, university of Bahrain. American Journal of Nursing Research. 2019; 7(6):995-99.

9. 9. Savitsky B, Findling Y, Ereli A, Hendel T. Anxiety and coping strategies among nursing students during the covid-19 pandemic. Nurse Education in Practice, 2020;46:102809.
10. 10. Geniş B, Gürhan N, Koç M, Geniş Ç, Şirin B, Çırakoğlu OC, et al. Development of perception and attitude scales related with COVID-19 pandemia. Pearson Journal of Social Sciences- Humanities; 2020;5(7):306-28.
11. 11. Sallam M. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy worldwide: A concise systematic review of vaccine acceptance rates. Vaccines.2021;9.
12. 12. Mohammad MHS. Immune response scenario and vaccine development for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Int Immunopharmacol. 2021;94:107439.
13. 13. Bozkurt HB. Aşı reddine genel bir bakış ve literatürün gözden geçirilmesi. Kafkas J Med Sci 2018; 8(1):71–76
14. 14. Bendau A, Plag J, Petzold MB, Strohle A. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and related fears and anxiety. International Immunopharmacology 2021;97:107724.
15. 15. Salalı GD, Uysal MS. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is associated with beliefs on the origin of the novel Coronavirus in the UK and Turkey. Psychological Medicine 2020;1-3.
16. 16. Köse S, Mandiracioglu A, Sahin S, Kaynar T, Karbus O. Ozbel Y. Vaccine hesitancy of the COVID-19 by health care personnel. International Journal of Clinical Practice. Pub Date: 2020-1207.
17. 17. American Nurses Foundation. New survey of 13K U.S. nurses: Findings indicate urgent need to educate nurses about COVID-19 vaccines.nursingworld.org/news/newsreleases/2020/new-survey-of-13k-u.s.-nurses-findings-indicateurgent-need-to-educate-nurses-about-covid-19-vaccines. Oct 29, 2020.
18. 18. Schaffer DeRoo S, Pudalov NJ, Fu LY. Planning for a COVID-19 Vaccination Program. JAMA. 2020 Jun 23;323(24):2458-59.
19. 19. Paterson P, Meurice F, Stanberry LR, Glismann S, Rosenthal SL, Larson HJ. Vaccine hesitancy and healthcare providers. Vaccine. 2016 Dec 20;34(52):6700-06.
20. 20. Biçer İ, Çakmak C, Demir H, Kurt ME. Koronavirüs anksiyete ölçeği kısa formu: Türkçe geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışması. Anadolu Kliniği Tıp Bilimleri Dergisi, Ocak 2020; Cilt 25, Özel Sayı.
21. 21. Özbalıkçı E, Aydın ES, İpek İ, Özen N, Yüceler M, Ateş O, et al. Türkiye’de Tıp Fakültesi öğrencilerinin aşı, bağışıklama, aşı kararsızlığı ve COVID-19 aşısı hakkındaki bilgi ve düşünceleri. Turk Hij Den Biyol Derg, 2021;78(3): 317-32
22. 22. Kuru Alici N, Ozturk Copur E. Anxiety and fear of COVID-19 among nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic: A descriptive correlation study. Perspect Psychiatr Care. 2021 May 20:10.1111/ppc.12851
23. 23. Hamaideh, SH, Al-Modallal, H, Hamdan-Mansour, A, Tanash, M. Depression, anxiety and stress among undergraduate students during COVID-19 outbreak and “home-quarantine”. Nurs Open. 2021;00:1–9.
24. 24. Yadav RK, Baral S, Khatri E, Pandey S, Pandeya P, Neupane R, et al. Anxiety and depression among healthsciences students in homequarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic in selected provinces of Nepal. Front. Public Health. 2021;9:580561
25. 25. Birimoglu Okuyan C, Karasu F, Polat F. Hemşirelik öğrencilerinin Covid-19’a maruz kalma korkularının sağlık kaygısı düzeyleri üzerine etkisi: Bir üniversite örneği. Van Health Sci J. 2020;13(COVID-19 Özel Sayı):45-52.
26. 26. Manning ML, Gerolamo AM, Marino MA, Hanson-Zalot ME, Pogorzelska-Maziarz M. COVID-19 vaccination readiness among nurse faculty and student nurses. Nurs Outlook. 2021;S0029-6554 (21)00023-3.
27. 27. Lucia VC, Kelekar A, Afonso NM. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among medical students. J Public Health (Oxf). 2021;43(3):445-449.
28. 28. Özdin S, Bayrak Özdin Ş. Levels and predictors of anxiety, depression and health anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish society: The importance of gender. Int J Soc Psychiatry. 2020;66(5):504-511.
29. 29. Altemus M, Sarvaiya N, Neill Epperson C. Sex differences in anxiety and depression clinical perspectives. Front Neuroendocrinol. 2014 Aug;35(3):320-30.
30. 30. Nakhostin-Ansari A, Sherafati A, Aghajani F, Khonji MS, Aghajani R, Shahmansouri N. Depression and anxiety among ıranian medical students during COVID-19 pandemic. Iran J Psychiatry. 2020 Jul;15(3):228-235.
31. 31. Koksal E, Dost B, Terzi Ö, Ustun YB, Özdin S, Bilgin S. Evaluation of depression and anxiety levels and related factors among operating theater workers during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. J Perianesth Nurs. 2020;35(5):472477.
32. 32. Şentürk E, Geniş B, Menkü B, Coşar B. The effects of social media news that users trusted and verified on anxiety level and disease control perception in COVID-19 pandemic. Turkish J Clinical Psychiatry 2021;24:23-32.
33. 33. Malik AA, McFadden SM, Elharake J, Omer SB. Determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in the US. EClinicalMedicine. 2020 Sep;26:100495.
34. 34. https://covid19asi.saglik.gov.tr/erişim tarihi: 25.07.2021.
35. 35. https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-turkiye-57513094/ erişim tarihi: 30.07.2021.
36. 36. Salali GD, Uysal MS. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is associated withbeliefs on the origin of the novel coronavirusin the UK and Turkey.Psychological Medicine.2020;1-3.