THE EFFECT OF PARENTS' TRUST IN SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS ON VACCINE REJECTION IN THE COVID-19 PROCESS

Objective: In the study, it was aimed to examine the effect of parents' trust in social media news on vaccine rejection during the COVID-19 process. Materials and Methods: 403 volunteer parents with children under 13 years of age, who could be reached via social media, participated in the study. Questionnaire, Scale of Vaccine Hesitancy (SVH), Social Media Confirmation/Confidence Scale (SMT/CS) were used to collect the data. Ethics committee approval was obtained from the Non-Invasive Ethics Committee of a university. Informed consent was obtained from the individuals who volunteered for the study. Results: There was no significant difference in terms of gender in both scales. As the age increases, the SMC/CS confirmation sub-dimension score increases significantly (p<0.05). In individuals with a high education level, SVH and its sub-dimensions (except for the vaccine benefit and protective value and anti-vaccine sub-dimension) and the mean score of the SMC/CS confirmed sub-dimension were found to be increased and there was a statistical significance between the groups (p<0.05). It was found that parents who had COVID-19 and did not take their children to vaccination during the pandemic had a significantly higher anti-SVH sub-dimension score (p<0.05). The mean score of SVH total and sub-dimension (except for the benefit of the vaccine) of those who refused childhood vaccinations was found to be significantly higher. In the study, it was determined that as the time spent on social media increased, the mean score of vaccine rejection (except for the vaccine benefit sub-dimension) and sub-dimensions increased, and a significant relationship was found between the groups in the sub-dimension of vaccine hesitation (p<0.05). Likewise, as the time allocated to social media increased, it was found that there was a significant increase in scores in the total and sub-dimensions of SMC/CS (except for the confirmation sub-dimension) (p<0.05). The mean SMC/CS total and confirmation sub-dimension scores of those with low income status were significantly lower than those with equal or higher income (p<0.05). The mean score of the SMC/CS confirmation sub-dimension of those who had COVID-19 and the total andconfirmed sub-dimension of the SMC/CS of those with chronic diseases were significantly higher (p