Clustering vaccine hesitancy and social media use of nurses and nursing students: a cross-sectional study

Nurses and nursing students' attitudes toward COVID-19 and Influenza vaccines are crucial for protecting vulnerable patients and reducing vaccine hesitancy in the general population. Social media is key in spreading vaccine information and it has opposite effects on vaccine hesitancy, alongside several socio-demographic and professional characteristics.

This study aims to identify the characteristics of vaccine hesitancy among nurses and nursing students.

A multi-centre, cross-sectional study was conducted between March and September 2023. Data were collected through an online survey to assess: (I) sociodemographic and occupational characteristics, and social media usage; (II) vaccine hesitancy (measured with the Vaccination Attitudes Examination Scale); (III) social media addiction (using the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale). K-means cluster analysis was performed to identify vaccine hesitancy profiles. ANOVA and Chi-square were adopted to identify the key characteristics of the profiles.

Among 604 participants, three profiles were identified. Concerns about unforeseen future effects was the most relevant factor of vaccine hesitancy across all profiles for both COVID-19 and Influenza vaccines. The most hesitant profile included mainly older nurses. Influenza vaccination uptake was the highest in the least hesitant profile, which also reported greater use of social media platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter/X.

This study provides insights to develop targeted interventions appropriate to nurses and nursing students' profiles. These results will support tailored vaccination campaigns to address the most relevant factors of vaccine hesitancy and provide evidence-based information to mitigate misconceptions and enhance vaccine uptake among nurses and nursing students.