Background: It is important to evaluate the attitude of society towards vaccines to understand the rates of acceptance and hesitance towards vaccination, which are essential components of public health and epidemiology. This study aimed to evaluate the perspective of the Turkish population on COVID-19 status, rate of vaccination, and also to evaluate the reasons for refusal to vaccinate, vaccine hesitancy, and related factors. Methods: A total of 4539 participants were included in this population-based descriptive and cross-sectional study. The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS-II) was used to obtain a representative sample and for this purpose Turkey was divided into 26 regions. Participants were randomly selected based on the demographic features and population ratios of the selected regions. The following parameters were evaluated: sociodemographic characteristics and perspectives on COVID-19 vaccines, Vaccine Hesitancy Scale Adapted to Pandemics (VHS-P), and Anti-Vaccine Scale-Long Form (AVS-LF) questions. Results: A total of 4539 participants, 2303 (50.7%) male and 2236 (49.3%) female, aged between 18 and 73 years, were included in this study. It was observed that 58.4% of the participants had hesitations towards COVID-19 vaccination, and 19.6% were hesitant about all childhood vaccinations. Those who did not have the COVID-19 vaccine, who did not think that the COVID-19 vaccine was protective, and who had hesitation to vaccinate against COVID-19 had significantly higher median scores on the VHS-P and AVS-LF scales, respectively (all p < 0.01). Those who did not have their children vaccinated in childhood and who were hesitant about childhood vaccinations, had significantly higher median scores on the VHS-P and AVS-LF scales, respectively (all p < 0.01). Conclusion: Although the rate of vaccination for COVID-19 was 93.4% in the study, hesitation to vaccinate was 58.4%. The median score of the scales of those who were hesitant about childhood vaccinations was higher than individuals who did not have any hesitation. In general, the source of concerns about vaccines should be clearly seen, and precautions should be taken.

It is important to vaccinate individuals working in the field of health who are more at risk compared to society during the pandemic period. The aim of this study was to evaluate the vaccine hesitancy and anxiety levels of hospital cleaning staff and caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This descriptive type cross-sectional study was conducted with 460 hospital cleaning staff and caregivers. Demographic and social characteristics form, Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS), and Vaccine Hesitancy Scale (VHS) adapted to the pandemic were used in the questionnaire form used to collect the data of the study. It was determined that the rates of hesitation against the COVID-19 vaccine and childhood vaccine were 42.2% (n = 194) and 10.9% (n = 50), respectively. Less than half of the participants (44.6%) believe that the COVID-19 vaccine is protective. COVID-19 anxiety (CAS score ≥ 9 point) was detected in 19.6% of participants and statistically significant differences were found between patients with (n = 90) and without (n = 370) anxiety regarding gender (p < 0.001), working unit (p = 0.002), vaccination status (p = 0.023) and history of psychological disease (p = 0.023). It has been shown that the VHS-total scores of those who are not vaccinated, those who are hesitant about vaccination, those who do not think that the vaccine is protective, and those who state that there is no need for a legal obligation in vaccination are higher. When participants were asked about the most anxious situation during the COVID-19 period, the highest response rate was 62.4% for my parents’ exposure to COVID-19. The most anxious situation among participants is their parents’ exposure to COVID-19. Although participants are highly vaccinated, they have serious hesitancy about the COVID-19 vaccine. This study also showed that there was a parallel relationship between COVID-19 anxiety and vaccine hesitancy.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the vaccine hesitancy, psychological resilience, and anxiety levels of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 676 nurses working at the survey time. Sociodemographic features, the status of hesitancy against the COVID-19 vaccine, the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, and the Brief Resilience Scale were used in the questionnaire form to collect the data. Results: Most participants (68.6%; n=464) stated they were hesitant about the COVID-19 vaccine. A sig- nificantly higher rate of hesitancy was detected in the age group of 20-39 years, those who did not have COVID-19 vaccine, and those who did not think the COVID-19 vaccine is protective (P < .05). It was determined that 6.8% (n=46) of the nurses had COVID-19 anxiety. A significantly higher rate of anxiety was detected in the age group of 40 years and older, those working in the emergency department, and those working in the COVID-19 unit during the pandemic period (P < .05). The median Brief Resilience Scale score of nurses is 19(6). A negative, weak, and significant relationship was found between the Brief Resilience Scale and Coronavirus Anxiety Scale scores (P = .001). Conclusion: During the pandemic, higher rates of anxiety were detected in healthcare personnel and those working in COVID-19 units. It was also found that as the level of anxiety increased, the level of psychological resilience decreased. To reduce the anxiety level and strengthen the psychological resilience of nurses, the cornerstones of the health system, fast, effective, and curative interventions should be made. Cite this article as: Akbulut S, Boz G, Gokce A, Unsal S, Saritas H, Kızılay E, Ozer A, Serdar Akbulut M, Colak C. Evaluation of nurses' vaccine hesitancy, psychological resilience, and anxiety levels during COVID-19 pandemic. Eurasian J Med., 2023;55(2), 140-146.

Among 10 global problems of 2019 determined by the World Health Organization, vaccine refusal was one of the problems mentioned. In this context, health services and health personnel whose main objectives are to keep individuals healthy and to prevent diseases have major responsibilities. This study aims to analyze knowledge and behavior of nurses working at Inonu University Turgut Ozal Medical Center on childhood vaccine refusal. This study, conducted between June and July 2019, is a descriptive cross-sectional study. It was conducted in a hospital located in Malatya in eastern Turkey. At the time of the study, 850 nurses work in this hospital. Sample size was calculated to be 263 at a confidence interval of 95% and strength of 80%. Chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test were used in statistical analyses. In the present study, 31.7% of the participating nurses stated that they had concerns about childhood vaccines. Two-thirds of nurses stated that their knowledge on vaccines was from their education. The level of hesitance in those agreeing to the fact that vaccines caused autism and infertility, those stating that they did not trust vaccine-producing companies, and those stating that catching the disease was a better immunization method than vaccination was significantly higher than those not agreeing to these and those who were indecisive (p < .05). One-third of nurses was proven to have hesitance on childhood vaccines, and this rate is rather high. Nurses, being both health personnel and the communication channel for guiding parents, should be provided necessary training and practices in order to ease their hesitance on vaccination.

İklim değişikliği 21. Yüzyılda küresel sağlığı etkileyen önemli bir tehdit olarak görülmektedir. Bu nedenle iklim değişikliği konusunda farkındalık düzeyinin saptanması yapılacak müdahaleler açısından etkili olacaktır. Bu çalışmada İnönü Üniversitesi tıp fakültesi öğrencilerinin küresel iklim değişikliği farkındalık düzeyleri ve etkileyen değişkenler incelenmiştir. Şubat-Mart 2024 tarihleri arasında yapılan bu araştırma kesitsel tiptedir. Çalışmanın yapılabilmesi için gerekli izin ve etik kurul onayı alınmıştır. Örneklem büyüklüğü 280 kişi olarak hesaplanmış, sınıfa göre tabakalandırma yapılarak 283 öğrenciye gözlem altında anket uygulanmıştır. Anket formunda sosyodemografik özellikleri içeren sorular, küresel iklim değişikliği farkındalığı ile ilişkili sorular ve Küresel İklim Değişikliği Farkındalık Ölçeği yer almaktadır. İstatistiksel analizlerde Mann Whitney U Testi ve Kruskal Wallis Varyans Analizi kullanılmıştır. Öğrencilerin %50,2’si kadın, %36,0’ı 23 yaş ve üzerindedir. %20,1’i birinci sınıf öğrencisidir. Öğrencilerin %61,8’inin Küresel İklim Değişikliği konusundaki farkındalıkları orta düzeyde tespit edilmiştir. Küresel İklim Değişikliği Farkındalık Ölçeğinden alınan puanlara göre kadınların iklim değişikliği konusundaki farkındalığı erkeklerden anlamlı olarak yüksek saptanmıştır (p=0,021). İklim değişikliği konusunda endişesi olanların ve bilgi sahibi olan öğrencilerin farkındalığının daha yüksek olduğu görülmüştür (p

Although there is a lot of scientific evidence that the benefits of vaccines outweigh their risks, hesitancy about the safety of vaccines can occur in every segment of the community. In this study,...