The validity and reliability study of the parental attitudes scale about childhood vaccines

Vaccine hesitancy is a complex public health issue that raises doubts about the safety, efficacy and necessity of vaccination and needs to be investigated. With this research, it is aimed to adapt The Parental Attitudes Scale About Childhood Vaccines, which is one of the most used and most reliable measurement tools in the literature, developed by Opel et al. The sample of this methodological study consisted of 397 parents with at least one child between the ages of 0-13. Introductory characteristics information form, Parental Attitudes scale about Childhood Vaccines and Vaccine-Related Community Attitude-Health Belief Model (SIM) Scale were used to collect data. The data obtained from the research were analyzed by SPSS and AMOS statistical programs. Confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach alpha coefficient, and item total score correlation methods were used in the validity and reliability analysis of the scale. 72.8% of the parents are female and the average age is 36.05 ± 5.8. It was determined that 55.9% of the parents were equal to the income and expense, 40.3% had a single child, 2.3% supported anti-vaccination and 36.8% agreed with the statement that the decision to vaccinate should be left to the parents. Cronbach's alpha value of the scale was found to be 0.847. It was determined that the item-total score correlation coefficients were between 0.248 and 0.775 and were significant. In the confirmatory factor analysis, CMIN / DF 2.218; RMSEA 0.055; CFI 0.941; GFI was 0.939 and AGFI was 0.916. As a result of the correlation analysis for criterion-dependent validity, the correlation coefficients were found to be between 0.603 and 0.695 and were significant. It has been determined that the Parental Attitudes Scale About Childhood Vaccines, adapted to Turkish, is a valid and reliable measurement tool. It is recommended that the scale be used to identify parents who are hesitant about vaccination in Turkey and to evaluate attempts to reduce vaccination hesitancy. Keywords: Vaccine, Vaccine Hesitation, Validity, Reliability, Scale