| Literature DB >> 35911007 |
Francesco Bruno1,2, Antonio Malvaso3,4,5, Francesca Chiesi6, Valentina Laganà2, Rocco Servidio7, Valeria Isella8, Carlo Ferrarese8, Federica Gottardi9, Eloisa Stella10, Federica Agosta3,4,5, Massimo Filippi3,4,5, Raffaele Di Lorenzo2, Leslie R Martin11, Amalia Cecilia Bruni2, Raffaele Maletta1,2.
Abstract
People with dementia have an increased risk of contracting severe forms of COVID-19. Although in worldwide vaccination programs priority has been given to older people, having taken the vaccine does not totally eliminate the risk of contracting COVID-19 when one is in close contact with unvaccinated people. Thus, family caregivers' choices to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 could have potentially lethal consequences for their relatives. To our knowledge, this study represents the first attempt within the international literature to analyze COVID-19 vaccine uptake among family caregivers of people with dementia and to identify some of the psychological factors, related to COVID-19 and vaccination behavior, that could facilitate or hinder vaccine uptake. Contact information for family caregivers was obtained from five different centers and associations throughout the Italian territory. Data were collected from 179 respondents during July-September 2021 using a cross-sectional web-based survey design. More than 75% of the respondents indicated that had been vaccinated against COVID-19 and reported receiving vaccine information mainly from print or electronic newspapers (86%), followed by TV (81%) and families (64.2%). In multivariable logistic regression analyses, worries about unforeseen future effects was significantly related to COVID-19 vaccine uptake, indicating that family caregivers concerned about potential side effects of vaccines were less likely to have been vaccinated against COVID-19 (OR = 0.60, CI = 0.40-0.89). Openness to experience was also related to COVID-19 vaccine uptake, with family caregivers higher on this trait being less likely to have been vaccinated against COVID-19 (OR = 0.83, CI = 0.71-0.98). Implications for targeting of vaccine-related messages are discussed.Entities:
Keywords: COVID-19; attitudes; dementia; family caregivers; perceived social support; personality traits; vaccine hesitancy; vaccine uptake
Year: 2022 PMID: 35911007 PMCID: PMC9335157 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.923316
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Front Psychol ISSN: 1664-1078
Demographic characteristics of family caregivers.
| Variable | Categories | Frequency | Percentage |
|
| 29–82 years (Mean = 56.4; SD = 12.4) | − | − |
|
| Males | 53 | 29.6 |
|
| Single | 33 | 18.4 |
|
| Less than high school | 8 | 4.5 |
|
| Employed | 97 | 54.2 |
|
| Extremely problematic | 4 | 2.2 |
| Yes | 20 | 11.2 |
Response rates of family caregivers to questions related to COVID-19.
| Variable | Categories | n (%) | n total |
|
| Yes | 165 (92.2) | 179 |
|
| Yes | 109 (65.3) | 167 |
|
| Yes | 71 (48) | 148 |
|
| Print or electronic newspapers |
Demographics and clinical characteristics of patients.
| Variable | Categories | Frequency | Percentage |
|
| 48–93 years (Mean = 76.3; SD = 9.9) | − | − |
|
| Males | 54 | 30.9 |
|
| Single | 69 | 38.5 |
|
| Less than high school | 85 | 47.5 |
|
| Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) | 110 | 61.5 |
| Low grade | 32 | 17.9 | |
| Yes | 18 | 10.1 |
Correlation matrix with all potential predictor variables.
| Variable | COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake |
| Family caregivers’ age | 0.06 |
| Family caregivers’ gender | 0.04 |
| Family caregivers’ marital status | −0.17 |
| Family caregivers’ education | 0.08 |
| Family caregivers’ occupation | –0.06 |
| Family caregivers’ economic conditions | 0.08 |
| Worries about unforeseen future effects | −0.23 |
| Concerns about commercial profiteering | −0.15 |
| Preference for natural immunity | −0.16 |
| Mistrust of vaccine benefit | 0.05 |
| Openness to experience | −0.15 |
| Conscientiousness | –0.02 |
| Agreeableness | 0.05 |
| Neuroticism | 0.03 |
| Extraversion | 0.10 |
| Perceived social support - family | −0.27 |
| Perceived social support - friends | –0.11 |
| Perceived social support - significant others | −0.17 |
| Understanding of COVID-19 | 0.09 |
| Trust in Health Authorities | –0.12 |
| Fear of COVID-19 | 0.07 |
| Previous vaccination history for the seasonal influenza vaccine | 0.04 |
*Significant at 0.05 level. **Significant at 0.01 level. ***Significant at level 0.001. Point biserial correlations were used for correlations between one continuous and one dichotomous variable; phi coefficients were used for associations between two dichotomous variables. Spearman’s rho was used for correlation between one ordinal and one dichotomous variable.
Multivariable logistic regression analysis with COVID-19 vaccine uptake as outcome variable.
| Variable | β | SE β | Standardized+ | Odds Ratio | Z | Wald Statistic | df | p | 95% CI |
|
| −1.10 | 0.68 | −0.43 | 0.33 | −1.61 | 2.59 | 1 | 0.11 | 0. 09-1.27 |
|
| −0.05 | 0.17 | −0.07 | 0.96 | −0.28 | 0.08 | 1 | 0.78 | 0.69-1.32 |
|
| −0.11 | 0.18 | −0.14 | 0.90 | −0.60 | 0.36 | 1 | 0.55 | 0.64-1.28 |
|
| −0.52 | 0.20 | −0.64 | 0.60 | −2.52 | 6.33 | 1 | 0.01 | 0.40-0.89 |
|
| −0.18 | 0.08 | −0.44 | 0.83 | −2.23 | 4.96 | 1 | 0.03 | 0. 71-0.98 |
|
| −0.07 | 0.04 | −0.52 | 0.93 | −1.95 | 3.78 | 1 | 0.05 | 0.87-1.00 |
|
| −0.07 | 0.04 | −0.44 | 0.93 | −1.91 | 3.65 | 1 | 0.06 | 0.87-1.00 |
Overall model evaluation: Goodness-of-fit test: Hosmer & Lemeshow: χ
COVID19-Vaccine Uptake level ‘1’ coded as class 1. Variable coding: Marital Status 1 = in relation, 0 = single.