Comparison of attitudes toward the coronavirus disease vaccine, fear of coronavirus disease, and perception regarding causes of coronavirus disease between patients with serious mental illness and healthy controls
Journal of Public Health (Germany), cilt.33, sa.3, ss.577-589, 2025 (ESCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 33 Sayı: 3
- Basım Tarihi: 2025
- Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s10389-023-02019-8
- Dergi Adı: Journal of Public Health (Germany)
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, CINAHL, EMBASE, Psycinfo, Social Sciences Abstracts
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.577-589
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Severe mental illness, COVID-19, Vaccine, Conspiracy
- Sağlık Bilimleri Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Aim: In this study, we compared attitudes toward vaccination and fear of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) between patients with severe mental illness (SMI) and a control group. Subject and methods: This study performed at a community mental health center included 136 patients with SMI and 105 healthy controls. A sociodemographic data form, the Clinical Global Impression Scale, COVID-19 Phobia Scale, Perception of Causes of COVID-19 Scale, and Attitudes Toward the COVID-19 Vaccine Scale were administered. Results: Both groups showed similar vaccination rates, attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine, and fear of COVID-19. We observed an intergroup difference in the belief subdimension of the Perception of Causes of COVID-19 Scale; however, the other subscale scores were similar. Patients’ perceived risk of contracting COVID-19 was lower than that of the control group. In contrast to this finding, the rates of infection were higher in patients. Conclusions: Considering the limited number of studies that have investigated the attitudes of patients with SMI toward vaccination, we observed that in contrast to the findings of previous studies, vaccination rates were similar between the SMI and control groups during the pandemic in Turkey. However, we observed an intergroup difference in factors that affected unwillingness to get vaccinated during the early period despite eligibility and availability of the vaccine. We conclude that interventions required for individuals with SMI differ from those required for healthy individuals.