The Development and Preliminary Application of the Chinese Version of the COVID-19 Vaccine Literacy Scale.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022;
19:ijerph192013601. [PMID:
36294178 PMCID:
PMC9603366 DOI:
10.3390/ijerph192013601]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Revised: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
(1) Background: Vaccine literacy (VL) of the public is crucial to deal with anti-vaccination rhetoric. This study aims to (1) develop a Chinese COVID-19 Vaccine Literacy Scale and examine the factor structure and psychometric characteristics, and (2) explore the association between COVID-19 VL and sociodemographic characteristics and other variables; (2) Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among 362 Chinese residents from 23 May 2022 to 31 May 2022 using snowball sampling; (3) Results: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the scale of 15 items, consisting of three factors, functional, interactive and critical vaccine literacy, explained 63.3% of the total variance. Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.885 for the overall scale: 0.838, 0.891, and 0.857 for three subscales, respectively. The results showed a medium level of vaccine literacy (M = 3.71, SD = 0.72) and significant differences among functional, interactive, and critical vaccine literacy (p < 0.001). The level of vaccine literacy grew with the level of education (p < 0.001) and age (p = 0.049). Men, participants who were single, or those living in rural areas had a lower level of vaccine literacy; (4) Conclusions: The Chinese COVID-19 VL Scale has adequate validity and reliability for assessing vaccine literacy among Chinese residents. A deep understanding of the factors that affect vaccine literacy is needed.
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