Healthcare Assignment: Knowledge & Attitude Towards COVID-19 Vaccinations

Question

Task:
Write a research project on healthcare assignment critically analysing the topic “Knowledge and Attitude towards COVID-19 Vaccinations”.

Answer

Introduction to the context of healthcare assignment
The world has been experiencing the unprecedented crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic situation, and over the last two years, this pandemic has not only claimed millions of lives in all parts of the globe but has changed the life of the general global population completely. The global economy, businesses and the economic welfare of people have also been jeopardised by the lockdowns and the different types of restrictive measures that have been imposed by nations across the globe to stop the spread of the concerned pandemic situation. However, with the development and administration of different COVID-19 vaccinations, in different countries, there is a slow recovery from the situation, and the countries are trying to take up their restrictive measures fully or partially (Pogue et al. 2020). However, much of the success of the vaccination drives is expected to be dependent on the knowledge and attitude of the general population towards the same. Keeping this into consideration, the proposed project aims to analyse the knowledge and attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccinations and the impacts of the same on the vaccination drives.

Background of the Project and Scoping Review
Vaccinations at the time of a pandemic can be seen to be of huge public health relevance, and the success not only depends on rolling out the vaccination drives but also on the level of acceptance of the same among the general population (Paul, Steptoe and Fancourt 2021). There is a difference in the percentage of the population being vaccinated across the globe at the present period, and this can be shown with the help of the following figure:

Figure 1: Percentage of the general population of different countries across the world receiving at least one dosage of the COVID-19 vaccinations
(Source: Fortune.com 2021)

Much of the welfare and safety of people from the contagious COVID-19 pandemic can be seen to be dependent on the pace of vaccinations in the country. However, the pace and acceptance of vaccinations can be seen to be dependent on the level of awareness among the general population about the vaccines and their importance and safety, which in turn can be seen to shape up their attitude and knowledge towards the vaccinations (Verger et al. 2021). Thus, it is important to assess the knowledge and attitude of the population towards the COVID-19 vaccinations in the present period as this will help not only the government, the policymakers and the healthcare sectors to develop policies and strategies for the vaccination drives but will also help them in mitigating any kind of perception-related bottlenecks that can be seen to be existing among the general population about the effects and safety as well as the credibility of the COVID-19 vaccinations that are being produced and administered in the present period. This is also of immense public health relevance, since in the case of the concerned pandemic, to ensure that each person is safe and vaccinated and also to ensure that the spread of the pandemic is halted, it is important to ensure that the major section of the population of the concerned country is vaccinated (Wang et al. 2020).

The above discussion, thus, provides the rationale for the concerned study, which has the aim of assessing and identifying the knowledge and attitude of the general population about the COVID-19 vaccinations and also the acceptance of the same among the general population. This will also help in analysing the impacts which the knowledge and attitude of the general population about the vaccinations are having on the ease of administration of the vaccinations, on the pace of vaccinations and also on the overall percentage of the population who are willingly getting them vaccinated to stop the spread of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Research Question
The question to be addressed in this project is as follows:
What are the general knowledge and attitude of the population towards the COVID-19 vaccinations that are being produced and administered in the present period? What are the impacts of these existing knowledge and attitude on the vaccination drives?

Research Aim
The primary aim of the concerned study is to analyse the general level of awareness and the knowledge existing among the population towards the COVID-19 vaccinations and also the different attitudes towards the same present among the different sections of the population. The study also aims to address the negative attitudes to mitigate the adverse impacts of the same on the success of the vaccination drives and on the acceptance of vaccinations among the general population.

Research Objectives
The objectives to be addressed by the proposed study are as follows:

• To identify the knowledge about the COVID-19 vaccinations among the general population
• To identify and discuss the different types of attitudes among the population regarding the COVID-19 vaccinations
• To analyse the positive as well as the negative implications of the knowledge and attitude of the general population about the vaccinations on the reception of the vaccines
• To develop and recommend plausible solutions for mitigating the negative knowledge and attitude existing among the general population regarding the impacts of the COVID-19 vaccinations, such that more vaccinations and thereby more safety of the general population can be ensured

Study Design
The proposed project is going to be a cross-sectional one, and the knowledge and also the attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccinations will be assessed over a specific group of population in the present period. A sample of 10 people will be selected with the help of convenience sampling from the general population, based on the people who can be easily accessed in the times of the concerned pandemic situation. Their perceptions, knowledge and attitude will be recorded for the concerned project in terms of in-depth interviews that will be carried out with them with the help of semi-structured questionnaires (Mohajan 2018). The questions that will be included in the concerned in-depth interview questionnaire will be open-ended, which implies that answer options are to be given to the selected study respondents. This will be done to ensure that the respondents have the freedom to answer the questions in the ways they want to, and their opinions are not constricted by the provision of strict or rigid answer options for the concerned interview questions (Nayak and Singh 2021). The sample size of 10 can appear to be a small one, but this has to be done taking into consideration the cost constraints and the time constraints of the concerned project. The types of questions that will be included in the semi-structured questionnaire for carrying out the in-depth interviews are as follows:

• Are you aware of the COVID-19 vaccinations that are being used in the present period?
• Tell us about your knowledge about the COVID-19 vaccinations and their safety and credibility.
• Have you got yourself vaccinated? What are your suggestions to others regarding the COVID-19 vaccinations? Do you think it is absolutely necessary for people to be vaccinated to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic?

These types of questions will help in gathering extensive qualitative information about the research question and the research objectives which the proposed project aims to address.

Since the concerned study aims to use primary and qualitative information, the information that will be collected from the concerned study respondents will be analysed using the thematic analysis framework, where the themes will be constructed keeping into consideration the research question as well as the concerned study objectives as mentioned in the previous section of the concerned project plan. A common discussion section will also be incorporated in the later section of the concerned project, where the findings and the primary insights and inferences developed from the data analysis will be highlighted and interpreted (Ngozwana 2018).

Ethical Considerations
As the proposed study intends to use primary sources for the collection of information, the following ethical considerations will be incorporated in the proposed project:

• There will be no unethical or intended bias in the selection of the study respondents other than the inherent ones that will come due to the convenience sampling process
• The identity of the selected respondents will not be revealed to respect their individuality and confidentiality
• The respondents will be made aware of the purpose of the concerned study, and the in-depth interviews will be conducted with them only after acquiring their informed consent (Ngozwana 2018)
• The information obtained from the study respondents will be used only for the purpose of the concerned study and will not be revealed to any other third party
• The findings from the analysis of the information obtained will be interpreted and presented without any kind of bias on the part of the researcher

Milestones

Potential Project Outcomes
The potential outcomes of the project will help in the development of robust insights about the different knowledge and attitude existing among the general population about the COVID-19 vaccinations, which in turn can help in assessing the bottlenecks and issues existing in this domain. This, in turn, is expected to be of considerable importance in the domain of public health, policy-making and governance as it will help in addressing the negative perceptions, knowledge and attitude existing among the general population about the credibility and the safety of the COVID-19 vaccinations and also about their administration process.

References
Fortune.com, 2021. COVID vaccination rate by country: See how your country is doing. [online] Fortune. Available at: [Accessed 6 August 2021].

Mohajan, H.K., 2018. Qualitative research methodology in social sciences and related subjects. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People, 7(1), pp.23-48.

Nayak, J.K. and Singh, P., 2021. Fundamentals of Research Methodology Problems and Prospects. SSDN Publishers & Distributors.

Ngozwana, N., 2018. Ethical Dilemmas in Qualitative Research Methodology: Researcher's Reflections. Healthcare assignment International Journal of Educational Methodology, 4(1), pp.19-28.

Paul, E., Steptoe, A. and Fancourt, D., 2021. Attitudes towards vaccines and intention to vaccinate against COVID-19: Implications for public health communications. The Lancet Regional Health-Europe, 1, p.100012.

Pogue, K., Jensen, J.L., Stancil, C.K., Ferguson, D.G., Hughes, S.J., Mello, E.J., Burgess, R., Berges, B.K., Quaye, A. and Poole, B.D., 2020. Influences on attitudes regarding potential COVID-19 vaccination in the United States. Vaccines, 8(4), p.582.

Verger, P., Scronias, D., Dauby, N., Adedzi, K.A., Gobert, C., Bergeat, M., Gagneur, A. and Dubé, E., 2021. Attitudes of healthcare workers towards COVID-19 vaccination: a survey in France and French-speaking parts of Belgium and Canada, 2020. Euro surveillance, 26(3), p.2002047.

Wang, J., Jing, R., Lai, X., Zhang, H., Lyu, Y., Knoll, M.D. and Fang, H., 2020. Acceptance of COVID-19 Vaccination during the COVID-19 Pandemic in China. Vaccines, 8(3), p.482.