Psychological Antecedents of Vaccination (5C) Scale: Turkish Validity and Reliability Study

Abstract

5C psychological antecedents of vaccination scale was developed by Betsch et al. (2018) based on prior models. The scale measures the psychological antecedents of vaccination refusal/hesitancy in five dimensions. Existing Turkish vaccination-related scales cover only a limited aspect of hesitancy/refusal. In this study, the 5C scale’s Turkish translation, validity, and reliability analyses were performed (N=1848). Confirmatory factor analysis resulted that the model was consistent with the data indicating construct validity, and Cronbach alpha values of each dimension varied between .71 and .82, indicating good reliability. Correlations of the 5C dimensions with variables that are suggested by Betsch et al. were examined to test the congruence validity. Vaccination intention was positively related to all five dimensions. Moreover, in line with theoretical expectations, the following associations were observed: confidence was positively related to trust in healthcare institutions and healthcare professionals; complacency was negatively related to perceived risk; constraint was negatively related to perceived behavioral control; calculation was positively related to information seeking; collective responsibility was positively related to COVID-19 related worry. We believe that the Turkish 5C scale will be a functional tool in monitoring vaccination in Turkey and a valuable contribution to the literature by enabling cross-cultural comparisons.