Jialin Liu1, Siru Liu2. 1. Department of Medical Informatics, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, No.37 Wainan guoxuexiang street, Chengdu, CN. 2. Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, US.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Acceptance rates of COVID-19 vaccines still have not reached the threshold for herd immunity. Understanding why some people are willing to be vaccinated and others are not is a critical step to develop efficient implementation strategies to promote COVID-19 vaccines. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study are to: 1) determine if the adapted COM-B model can explain behavioral intentions toward COVID-19 vaccines using tweets; 2) examine theory-informed factors that might affect behavioral intentions toward COVID-19 vaccines; 3) extract themes to provide information for researchers in public health to develop theory-based and evidence-based promotion interventions. METHODS: We conducted a theory-based content analysis based on the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behavior (COM-B) Model to characterize the factors influencing behavioral intentions toward COVID-19 vaccines mentioned on the Twitter platform. We manually coded a random sample of 5,000 tweets from tweets posted in November 2020. RESULTS: Among them, 279 tweets mentioned behavioral intentions. We also generated nine themes based on the COM-B model. The results showed that most behavioral intentions regarding COVID-19 vaccines were related to the motivation construct. Specifically, positive behavioral intentions were affected by the positive values of vaccination (e.g., reduced risk of infection, socioeconomic recovery, return to normal life). In contrast, negative behavioral intentions were associated with attitudes and perceptions about COVID-19 vaccines or the disease itself (e.g., an underestimation of disease severity, low vaccine effectiveness), values and beliefs (e.g., greater belief in the natural immune system), confidence and trust (e.g., distrust of government or vaccines), and lack of knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: The themes identified in this study could be used to inform theory-based and evidence-based interventions to improve acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines.
BACKGROUND: Acceptance rates of COVID-19 vaccines still have not reached the threshold for herd immunity. Understanding why some people are willing to be vaccinated and others are not is a critical step to develop efficient implementation strategies to promote COVID-19 vaccines. OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study are to: 1) determine if the adapted COM-B model can explain behavioral intentions toward COVID-19 vaccines using tweets; 2) examine theory-informed factors that might affect behavioral intentions toward COVID-19 vaccines; 3) extract themes to provide information for researchers in public health to develop theory-based and evidence-based promotion interventions. METHODS: We conducted a theory-based content analysis based on the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behavior (COM-B) Model to characterize the factors influencing behavioral intentions toward COVID-19 vaccines mentioned on the Twitter platform. We manually coded a random sample of 5,000 tweets from tweets posted in November 2020. RESULTS: Among them, 279 tweets mentioned behavioral intentions. We also generated nine themes based on the COM-B model. The results showed that most behavioral intentions regarding COVID-19 vaccines were related to the motivation construct. Specifically, positive behavioral intentions were affected by the positive values of vaccination (e.g., reduced risk of infection, socioeconomic recovery, return to normal life). In contrast, negative behavioral intentions were associated with attitudes and perceptions about COVID-19 vaccines or the disease itself (e.g., an underestimation of disease severity, low vaccine effectiveness), values and beliefs (e.g., greater belief in the natural immune system), confidence and trust (e.g., distrust of government or vaccines), and lack of knowledge. CONCLUSIONS: The themes identified in this study could be used to inform theory-based and evidence-based interventions to improve acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines.
Authors: Ingjerd Skafle; Anders Nordahl-Hansen; Daniel S Quintana; Rolf Wynn; Elia Gabarron Journal: J Med Internet Res Date: 2022-08-04 Impact factor: 7.076