Testing the validity of the modified vaccine attitude question battery across 22 languages with a large-scale international survey dataset: within the context of COVID-19 vaccination

ABSTRACT

In this study, we tested the validity of the modified version of the Vaccine Attitude Question Battery (VAQB) across 22 different languages. Validity test was conducted with a large-scale international survey dataset, COVIDiSTRESSII Global Survey, collected from 20,601 participants from 62 countries. We employed exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, measurement invariance test, and measurement alignment for internal validity test. Moreover, we examined correlation between the VAQB score, vaccination intent, compliance with preventive measures, and trust in public health-related agents. The results reported that the modified VAQB, which included five items, showed good validity across 22 languages with measurement alignment. Furthermore, the VAQB score showed negative association with vaccination intent, compliance, and trust as expected. The findings from this study provide additional evidence supporting the validity of the modified VAQB in 22 languages for future large-scale international research on COVID-19 and vaccination.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• vaccine attitude
• psychometrics
• validation
• international survey
• measurement alignment

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Sara Vestergren and COVIDiSTRESSII Global Survey Consortium members for their help regarding data collection and preprocessing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website at https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2021.2024066.

Additional information

Funding

The authors reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.