Motors of COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance Scale (MoVac-COVID19S): Evidence of Measurement Invariance Across Five Countries

Abstract

I-Hua Chen,1,* Pei-Ling Wu,2,3,* Cheng-Fang Yen,4– 6,* Irfan Ullah,7 Sheikh Shoib,8 Shafi Ullah Zahid,9 Aadil Bashir,10 Naved Iqbal,11 Frimpong-Manso Addo,12 Emma Sethina Adjaottor,12 Gifty Boakye Amankwaah,12 Daniel Kwasi Ahorsu,13 Mark D Griffiths,14 Chung-Ying Lin,15– 18 Amir H Pakpour19 1Chinese Academy of Education Big Data, Qufu Normal University, Qufu City, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 2School of Medicine, College of Medicine, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 3Department of Pediatrics, E-Da Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 4Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, 80708, Taiwan; 5Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, 80756, Taiwan; 6College of Professional Studies, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, 91201, Taiwan; 7Kabir Medical College, Gandhara University, Peshawar, Pakistan; 8Sheikh Shoib Department of Psychiatry, Jawahar Lal Nehru Memorial Hospital, Srinagar, India; 9Department of Neurosurgery, Jamhuriat hospital, Kabul, Afghanistan; 10Department of Social Work, University of Kashmir, Kashmir, India; 11Department of Psychology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India; 12Department of Behavioural Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; 13Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong; 14International Gaming Research Unit, Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK; 15Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; 16Biostatistics Consulting Center, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; 17Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; 18Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; 19Department of Nursing, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Emma Sethina Adjaottor; Chung-Ying Lin, Tel [phone], Fax + 886-6-2367981, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: The percentage of individuals who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 was 53% worldwide, 62% in Asia, and 11% in Africa at the time of writing (February 9, 2022). In addition to administrative issues, vaccine hesitancy is an important factor contributing to the relatively low rate of vaccination. The Motors of COVID-19 Vaccination Acceptance Scale (MoVac-COVID19S) was developed to assess COVID-19 vaccination acceptance levels. However, it has only been tested among Taiwanese, mainland Chinese, and Ghanaian populations (Chen et al, 2021; Fan et al, 2021; Yeh et al, 2021). Therefore, the present study examined the construct validity and measurement invariance of the MoVac-COVID19S among individuals from five countries (ie, Taiwan, mainland China, India, Ghana, and Afghanistan).Participants and Methods: A cross-sectional survey study recruited 6053 participants across five countries who completed the survey between January and March 2021. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) fit indices were used to examine factor structure and measurement invariance across the five countries.Results: The fit indices of the CFA were relatively good across the countries except for the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA). Moreover, the four-factor structure (either nine or 12 items) had a better fit than the one-factor structure. However, the four-factor model using nine MoVac-COVID19S items was the only model that had measurement invariance support for both factor loadings and item intercepts across the five countries.Conclusion: The present study confirmed that the MoVac-COVID19S has acceptable psychometric properties and can be used to assess an individual’s willingness to get COVID-19 vaccination.Keywords: factor structure, vaccine hesitancy, young adults

Keywords

• factor structure
• vaccine hesitancy
• young adults