The goal of this study was to identify psychological motives that had the strongest statistical associations with vaccine outcomes in order to identify novel intervention targets to be used in vaccine promotion efforts. A national sample of US adults completed an online survey containing a variety of vaccine-related measures and psychological trait measures.
A national sample of US adults were recruited through Dynata, an online survey panel company, to complete an online survey. Participants completed a variety of vaccine-related survey items and an unprecedented number (\>20) of psychological trait measures. This was possible by using a Planned Missingness Design, where respondents only answer a predetermined subset of survey questions, which allows us to include more measures without significantly increasing the burden for participants. Participants were randomized to one of the three question blocks, where each block had a predetermined set of items that were roughly 1/3 of the items from each psychological trait measure. They were also randomized to complete questions that were about the psychological traits in general or about vaccines specifically.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
1,786
Respondents were randomized to answer whether psychological trait questions were general or about vaccines
Respondents were randomized to answer whether psychological trait questions were general or about vaccines
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa, United States
Vaccine attitudes
Feelings towards vaccines on a 7-point scale, with Very negative (1) and Very positive (7) as the scale anchors
Time frame: Day 1
Vaccination History
Indicated if they had received up to 7 age-recommended vaccines (Response options: No, Yes, Don't know/Unsure)
Time frame: Day 1
Psychological trait measures
26 measures: Needle phobia, Disgust sensitivity, Distrust, Conspiratorial mindset, Medical ambiguity aversion, Open-minded thinking, Self-protection motivation, Psychological reactance, 7 Moral Foundations, Self-construal, Social dominance orientation, Misinformation susceptibility, Faith in intuition, Delay discounting, Outcome bias, Scientific knowledge, Subjective numeracy, Health literacy, Medical maximizing-minimizing, Emotional reactivity to rare events
Time frame: Day 1
7C Antecedents to Vaccination
Single item to measure each antecedent to vaccination
Time frame: Day 1
Attitudes towards Complementary and Alternative Medicine
6 item measure
Time frame: Day 1
Personal Characteristics/Demographics
16 characteristics: Gender, Age, Race/ethnicity, Income, State of residence, Zip code, Relationship status, Education, Work in medical field, Economic political ideology, Social political ideology, Political party affiliation strength, Religiosity, Religious ideology, Subjective health, Health conditions
Time frame: Day 1
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