Psychometric properties of two surveys about beliefs towards vaccines in general and SARS-CoV-2 vaccine

Abstract

Background: Negative beliefs about vaccines can threaten herd immunity and pandemic control. Although beliefs about vaccines influence vaccination intention, there are no valid instruments that evaluate this in the Latin American population. Aim: To evaluate the psychometric properties of two scales that measure negative beliefs towards vaccines in general and against SARS-CoV-2 and provide evidence of their association with vaccination intention (convergent validity) in a Chilean sample. Material and Methods: Two studies were carried out. The first included 263 people who answered the beliefs towards vaccines in general scale (CV-G) and the beliefs towards the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine scale (CV-COVID). Exploratory factor analyses were conducted. In the second study, 601 people answered the same scales. Confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling were performed to provide evidence of validity. Results: Both scales had an unifactorial structure and excellent reliability and showed associations with the intention of vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, providing evidence of convergent validity. Conclusions: The scales evaluated here are reliable and valid measures that showed associations with vaccination intention in the Chilean population.