Psychological factors of anti-vaccination behavior of Belarusians in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The article presents the results of a theoretical and empirical study of the psychological factors of refusal from preventive vaccinations against COVID-19 during an active campaign for mass vaccination of the population of Belarus. Among these factors, the individual characteristics of the subjective perception of the likelihood of infection, the severity of the course and consequences of coronavirus infection, as well as the effectiveness and safety of anticovid vaccination were considered; general attitudes in the field of vaccination and health care; and value attitudes towards health and life. The prevalence of the main categories of vaccination behavior — pro- and antivaccinational — was determined in the Belarusian population sample; the peculiarities of the cognitive assessment of COVID-19 and anticovid vaccination inherent in Belarusians, as well as their meaning-related determinants, were revealed; psychological differences between people with different directions of vaccination behavior are revealed; identified psychological predictors of antivaccination behavior. The empirical study was conducted on a representative population sample of residents of the Republic of Belarus (N=582, aged from 18 to 49 years, 178 men and 404 women), using questionnaire methods, as well as standardized personality questionnaires: “Scale of Basic Value”, “Scale of Healthcare Attitudes”, “Scale of Antivaccination Attitudes”. The results of the study indicate that generalized and nonspecific factors prevail in the regulation of the antivaccination behavior of Belarusians in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, which are associated with personal comprehension and cognitive assessment not so much of a new type of coronavirus infection and anti-vaccines offered to the population, but of the national healthcare system in general and vaccination as such. In this case, the leading factors and predictors of anti-vaccination behavior of Belarusians are general negative attitudes — anti-vaccination, anti-drug and anti-bureaucratic attitudes. In the course of the study, psychometrically developed and validated the original Russian-language “Scale of Antivaccination Attitudes”, designed to change the generalized negative-evaluative (skeptical-distrustful) attitude of the subject to vaccines and vaccination in general. The results obtained indicate the compliance of its measuring properties with conventional psychometric standards.