Validation and psychometric properties of the Italian Vaccination Attitudes Examination (VAX-I) scale

Francesco Bruno; Valentina Laganà; Rebecca Pistininzi; Francesca Tarantino; Leslie Martin; Rocco Servidio

doi:10.1007/s12144-022-03209-5

Validation and psychometric properties of the Italian Vaccination Attitudes Examination (VAX-I) scale

Curr Psychol. 2022 May 27:1-11. doi: 10.1007/s12144-022-03209-5. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Francesco Bruno^{1

2

3}, Valentina Laganà², Rebecca Pistininzi⁴, Francesca Tarantino⁴, Leslie Martin⁵, Rocco Servidio⁶

Affiliations

¹ Regional Neurogenetic Centre (CRN), Department of Primary Care, ASP Catanzaro, Viale A. Perugini, 88046 Lamezia Terme, CZ Italy.
² Association for Neurogenetic Research (ARN), Lamezia Terme, CZ Italy.
³ Academy of Cognitive Behavioral Sciences of Calabria (ASCoC), Lamezia Terme, CZ Italy.
⁴ Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy.
⁵ Department of Psychology, La Sierra University, Riverside, CA USA.
⁶ Department of Cultures, Education and Society, University of Calabria, Via Pietro Bucci, Cubo 18/B - Quarto Piano, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza Italy.

Abstract

Despite the massive volume of scientific evidence on the benefits of immunisation, vaccine hesitancy is still a global health threat and represents an obstacle to controlling the spread of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and its associated COVID-19. Thus, the present study aimed to adapt and validate an Italian version of the Vaccination Attitudes Examination (VAX) scale. The Italian version of the scale (VAX-I), along with validation measures (general health perceptions, perceived sensitivity to medicines, intention to get the flu vaccine, and trust in health authorities) were administered to a sample of 534 Italian participants aged 18 to 87 (M = 32.41, SD = 15.35). The original version of the VAX scale was translated into Italian using a back-translation method. The parallel and confirmatory factor analyses showed that the scale's four-factor structure fits the data well, as in the original version. Reliability coefficients indicated that the VAX-I scale showed good internal consistency and measurement invariance results demonstrated that the VAX-I scale is stable across gender. Construct validity was supported by the significant negative correlation with general health perceptions, intentions to get the flu vaccine, and trust in health authorities, and the weak but significant and positive correlation with perceived sensitivity to medicines. Overall, the VAX-I scale appears to be a valid instrument to assess vaccine hesitancy in the Italian context.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-03209-5.

Keywords: COVID-19; Italian validation; The Vaccination Attitudes Examination (VAX) Scale; Theory of planned behaviour; VAX-I scale; Vaccination attitudes; Vaccination behaviour; Vaccination intention; Vaccine hesitancy; Vaccine uptake.