Fear of Infectious Contagion/Transmission Among Health Sciences Students and Its Relationship to Their Attitudes Toward The COVID-19 Vaccine

Abstract

Objective: As part of their educational program, health sciences students participate in clinical practice in healthcare institutions. Thus, this group, which is at the center of the risk of infection, is highly likely to encounter infectious diseases. This study aims to investigate the fear of infection contagion/transmission and attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine in health sciences students and examine the relationship between them. Methods: Data were collected using the “Data Collection Form”, “Fear of Contagion/Transmission Scale”, and “Attitudes Towards the COVID-19 Vaccine (ATV-COVID-19) Scale”. Results: A total of 303 health sciences students (nursing, nutrition and dietetics, physical therapy and rehabilitation) participated in the study. It was observed that 72.2% of the students lived with their families, and 42.6% had a family member with a chronic disease. In addition, 91.1% reported COVID-19 vaccination, and 48.2% reported COVID-19 infection. The mean score of participants’ fear of contagion/transmission was 89.38±14.58, and the sub-dimension “fear of social transmission” received the highest score. A weakly significant negative relationship existed between fear of contagion/transmission and positive attitude toward the COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusion: As a result of the study, it was found that fear of infection contagion/transmission among students was associated with a positive attitude toward the COVID-19 vaccine.