Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare (Jun 2024)

Understanding Parental Intentions for COVID-19 Child Vaccination: A Cross-Sectional Study From Jordan Using Theory of Planned Behavior

  • Badran EF,
  • Qasem Z,
  • Alqutob R,
  • Khaled MW,
  • Aldabbas AM,
  • Mansour AA,
  • Hiyassat SM,
  • Al-Shimi R,
  • Salhout SI

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 17
pp. 2729 – 2740

Abstract

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Eman F Badran,1 Zainah Qasem,2 Raeda Alqutob,3 Mohammed W Khaled,1 Ahmad M Aldabbas,1 Areen Abdelrahman Mansour,1 Sultan M Hiyassat,1 Rana Al-Shimi,1 Samar Iyad Salhout1 1Pediatric Department, School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan; 2Marketing Department, Business School, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan; 3Department of Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, JordanCorrespondence: Eman F Badran, Pediatric Department, School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior, this study addresses the factors that influence parental intentions to vaccinate their 12- to 17-year-old children against COVID-19. The study looked at how attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and fear of the COVID-19 vaccine impact these intentions.Methods: Between November and December 2021, 396 Jordanian parents completed an anonymous online survey. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used for analyzing the relationships.Results: While 94.7% of children had received routine vaccinations, only 23.5% intended to vaccinate their children against COVID-19, indicating a vaccine acceptance gap. The analysis revealed that attitudes are the most significant positive predictor of vaccination intent, accounting for 75% of the variance. Subjective norms had a positive influence on parents’ decisions, whereas fear of the COVID-19 vaccine was a significant barrier. Perceived behavioral control had a small but negative effect, indicating significant challenges to vaccination.Conclusion: The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) clarifies numerous factors that influence parents’ decisions to immunize their children against COVID-19. Understanding these factors is critical for narrowing the gap between high rates of routine vaccinations and low rates of COVID-19 vaccinations, as well as developing effective strategies to increase vaccine acceptance among parents.Keywords: theory of planned behavior, COVID-19 vaccination, parental intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, fear, children vaccination, parental decision-making, vaccination confidence, vaccine uptake

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