COVID-19 Vaccine Intention Among Iranian Health Workers: Application of the HBM Model

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to determine the application of the health belief model (HBM) in the acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination among health workers in 2021. The cross-sectional study was conducted on 3600 health workers from February to March 2021. Data was collected using a researcher-made questionnaire that included the intention to receive vaccines based on the health belief model constructs. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics indicators, Chi-square, ANOVA test, and logistic regression model at a 95% confidence level. More than 62% of the participants intended to receive the vaccine. The odds of intention to receive the vaccine among people who worked in the health center and did not have a history of hospitalization due to COVID-19 disease were 1.50 and 2.10 units more than the others. Intention to receive the vaccine in individuals with high perceived sensitivity was 1.10 units. Furthermore, in terms of perceived benefits, self-efficacy, and cue-to-action constructs were 1.15, 1.34, and 1.65 units respectively. The rate of vaccine acceptance among Iranian health care workers was relatively good and the constructs of HBM in predicting the rate of intention to receive the vaccine had good applicability.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• health workers
• health belief model
• vaccination
• Iran

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Zanjan University’s vice-chancellor of research and technology for their technical support to carry out the study (The code “A-12-179-47”).”). We would like to thank the staff of the Infectious Disease Management Center of the Ministry of Health of Iran, and 9 provinces including the university of Iran, Hazmargan, Qom, Rafsanjan, Mazandaran, Khorasan Razavi, Ahvaz, Urmia, Ilam for their collaboration, and participation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and materials

The data sets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request

Ethical approval

This article was a part of a national project and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Vice Chancellor for Research of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, with the approval number IR.ZUMS.REC.1399.455. All procedures of the study were in accordance with the protocol of the regional ethical research committee. After informing the study’s purposes, written consent was obtained from all participants. They were informed that their participation was voluntary, confidential, and anonymous, and was apprised of their right to withdraw from the research at any time.

The respective roles of the authors

Alireza Shoghli & Azam Maleki contributed to the conceptualization and design of the study as well as to the drafting and final approval of the manuscript. Zarrintaj Hoseinzade, Mahya Farsadegi, and Zahra Heidari contributed to collecting the data. Soraya Mohamadi, Zohreh Bigdeli, and Koorosh Kamali contributed to the data analysis.

Khadijeh Hajimiri, Mohammad Mehdi Gouya, Seyed Mohsen Zahraei, and Sousan Mahmoudi contributed to the drafting of the manuscript and revising it critically. All authors contributed sufficiently to read this final manuscript and gave their approval for the manuscript to be submitted in its present form.

Additional information

Funding

This article was part of a national project funded by UNICEF and it was approved by the Research Deputy of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, with the approval number (Code “A-12-179-47”).