title: Measuring people's knowledge about vaccination: developing a one-dimensional scale.
abstract: We propose a new scale to measure people's general knowledge about vaccinations. The scale's psychometric properties and its relationship with people's willingness to vaccinate were examined in two studies. In Study 1, a representative sample of the German- and French-speaking populations in Switzerland (N=1123) responded to a mail survey. In Study 2, members of an online panel answered the same questions (N=233). The results of both studies suggest that people differ considerably in their ability to correctly answer questions related to vaccinations. Mokken scale analyses and a test-retest analysis showed that nine items form a one-dimensional scale with good psychometric properties. In both studies, a substantial correlation between knowledge and willingness to vaccinate was observed. The scale proposed in this study is well suited for research examining group differences. In a time when new media such as the Internet is highly accessible to most people, misconceptions can easily be spread. A good knowledge scale is important for measuring possible knowledge changes.
authors.affiliation: ETH Zurich, Institute for Environmental Decisions (IED), Consumer Behavior, Universitaetstrasse 22, CHN J75.1, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland. alexandrazingg@ethz.ch
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zingg
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siegrist
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D058015:Health Communication / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D061108:Social Media / Q000639:trends*; D013557:Switzerland; D014611:Vaccination / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology*