Network Analysis of Well-Being Dimensions in Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Samples of University Students from Poland during the Fourth Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Understanding and mitigating negative affect in preventive health behaviors: Evidence from the COVID-19 vaccination process

The study investigated the willingness for vaccine uptake during the COVID-19 pandemic (April-June 2021), and explored the effect of both mindfulness and health education in managing negative affect post-vaccination. In study 1, a sample of 468 Chinese college students completed a one-time survey, assessing loneliness, stress, medical fear, and vaccination likelihood. Results showed that medical fear mediated the relationship between loneliness, stress and vaccination likelihood. In study 2, 70 college students were randomly assigned to one of three intervention conditions (mindfulness, health education, and control) during vaccination. Participants in mindfulness group showed lower negative affect scores than the control group post-intervention (p = 0.019). However, no significant difference was reported between health education with the other two conditions. As such, medical fear would be an important factor to target for improving the likelihood of vaccine uptake. Furthermore, a short mindfulness intervention was effective to improve experience of vaccination through mitigating negative affect.

Adaptation and Preliminary Validation of the Fear of Coronavirus Vaccination Scale in the Prospective Study among a Representative Sample of Polish, Israeli, Slovenian, and German Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Although concerns about harm and side effects are among the most important factors determining vaccine hesitancy, research on the fear of vaccination is sparse. The purpose of this study is a validation the Fear of Coronavirus Vaccination Scale (FoCVVS), adapted from the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. A representative sample of 1723 young adults aged 20-40 from Poland, Israel, Slovenia, and Germany participated during two time-points of the third COVID-19 pandemic wave. The online survey included demographic variables and several well-being dimensions, including gender, vaccination status, fear of coronavirus (FoCV-19S), physical health (GSRH), life satisfaction (SWLS), and perceived stress (PSS-10), anxiety (GAD-7), and depression (PHQ-9). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed at T1, and confirmatory analysis (CFA) at T2. The second-order two-factor structure demonstrated the best fit and very good discriminant and convergent validation. The general factor of the FoCVVS included two subscales assessing the emotional and physiological symptoms of fear of vaccination. Unvaccinated people showed higher levels of fear of vaccination than those vaccinated. A vaccination status, fear of vaccination T1, and fear of COVID-19 T1 were significant predictors of fear of vaccination T2. Vaccination-promoting programs should be focused on decreasing fear and enhancing the beneficial effects of vaccination.