2.2.3. Risk Perception and Intention to Get COVID-19 Vaccine

The final section of the questionnaire contained scales measuring participants’ risk perceptions which included “perceived severity”, “susceptibility of COVID-19 disease”, “perceived effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine”, and their “intention to get COVID-19 vaccine”. The original questionnaire developed by Ling et al. (2019) was used in a previous study for flu vaccine with sufficient internal consistency. [52] Because influenza and COVID-19 are diseases with similar transmission routes and the vaccines are both newly developed without sufficient vaccination history, [53] we modified the questionnaire to evaluate the risk perception and intention of COVID-19 vaccination in our study. While information regarding the COVID-19 vaccine policy in Mongolia was not fully determined during the development of the questionnaire, we only picked a questionnaire regarding risk perception and vaccination intention for this study. In the current study. The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.81 in our study.

The participants’ perceived severity of COVID-19 disease subscale contains three items designed to measure participants’ agreement regarding the three statements as (1) “COVID-19 can be a life-threatening illness”, (2) “The negative impact of COVID-19 is very severe”, and (3) “COVID-19 is a serious illness for someone like me.” Responses were based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 5 (strongly agree) to 1 (strongly disagree). The three items were summed up to form a composite score and divided into “low” and “high” severity of COVID-19 disease groups by cut-off point as mean score.

Participants’ perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 disease was evaluated by the question: “Without a COVID-19 vaccine, I will be vulnerable to contract COVID-19 in the next COVID-19 wave”. Responses were based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 5 “strongly agree” to 1 “strongly disagree”. The scale was divided into “low” and “high” susceptibility to COVID-19 disease groups by cut-off point as the mean score for analysis.

Participants’ perceived efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine subscale contains three items intended to measure the participant’s agreement regarding the three statements as (1) “Vaccination is a very effective way to protect me against the COVID-19”, (2) “If I don’t get a COVID-19 vaccination I will be at risk of catching COVID-19 in the next COVID-19 wave”, and (3) “I’m sure that having a COVID-19 vaccine would be effective in reducing my personal risk of contracting COVID-19”. Responses were based on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 5 “strongly agree” to 1” strongly disagree”. The three items were summed up to create a composite score and further divided into “low” and “high” groups by cut-off point as the mean score for analysis.

Participants’ intentions to get the COVID-19 vaccine were evaluated by the question: “I intend to have a COVID-19 vaccination”. Responses were based on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 5 “strongly agree” to 1 “strongly disagree”. To analyze the contributing factors to the intention, we divided the score into “less” and “more” intention groups by the mean score.