Vaccination Fear Scale (VFS-6): Development and Initial Validation

Background: The present study presents a first psychometric analysis of the Vaccination Fear Scale (VFS-6) developed to complement clinical efforts in the prevention of hesitance against vaccines. Methods: The sample comprised 2175 Spanish participants. The items of the VFS-6 were developed from val...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Malas, Olga, Tolsá, Maria Dolores
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat de Lleida (UdL)
Repositorio:Repositori Obert UdL
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.udl.cat:10459.1/463497
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.13129/2282-1619/mjcp-2972
https://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/463497
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Vaccination Fear Scale
Vaccines
Hesitance
Psychometric properties
Validity and Reliability
Descripción
Sumario:Background: The present study presents a first psychometric analysis of the Vaccination Fear Scale (VFS-6) developed to complement clinical efforts in the prevention of hesitance against vaccines. Methods: The sample comprised 2175 Spanish participants. The items of the VFS-6 were developed from validated Fear Coronavirus Scale (FCV-19S), which has several psychometric tests to ascertain its reliability and validity properties. Several psychometric tests were conducted to ascertain its reliability and validity properties. Results: After panel review and corrected item-total correlation test, six items with acceptable corrected item-total correlation were retained and then confirmed by significant and strong factor loadings. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis supported a bifactorial model (cognitive and physical factors), with robust psychometric properties, good reliability and internal consistency. Our data indicate that fear of vaccination is much more consistently related to the intention to vaccinate than fear of the disease. Conclusion: The VFS-6 is valid and reliable to assess fear of vaccination among the Spanish population.