36
People’s Journal of Scientific Research / Volume 16 / Issue 1 / Jan-June 2023
A Study to Assess the Knowledge and Attitude
Regarding Myths About Covid-19 Vaccination in
Selected Rural Area Ratua at Bhopal (M.P.)
Anjali Tiwari1, Arti Verma1, Ayushi Dwivedi1, Diksha Gautam1, Ashish Lodhi1, Babli
Chourasia1, Barsha Mehra1, Sheetal Das1, Rekha Rani Gupta2
1Department of Community Health Nursing, 2Department of Child and Health Nursing, People’s College of
Nursing and Research Centre, Bhopal
ABSTRACT:
Background- COVID-19 is the Pandemic disease caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus. There are many
myths regarding COVID-19 vaccine spread by community people at rural area. The objective of this
study was to assess the knowledge about myths of COVID-19, Bhopal Ratua (M.P). The World Health
Organization (WHO) is working closely with global experts, governments, and partners to rapidly
expand scientific knowledge on this new virus, to track the spread and virulence of the virus, and to
provide advice to countries and individuals on measures to protect health and prevent the spread. The
urban people have poor attitude regarding myths about Covid- 19 vaccination.
Materials & Methods- A Study was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding Covid
Vaccination among rural community people. 30 rural community people from a selected rural
community were included in the study. A questionnaire consisting of 40 questions was used.
Results- Almost all had some pre-test knowledge regarding the myths surrounding Covid-19. Whereas
the knowledge was increased post-test.
Conclusion- We concluded that such awareness programs may have a positive impact on increasing the
knowledge of rural people.
After that the vaccine needs to go through a review by the National Regulatory Authority, who will
decide if the vaccine is safe and effective.
KEYWORDS: COVID 19; vaccines; myths; respiratory syndrome; corona.
Address for correspondence : Professor Sheetal Das, Department of Community Health Nursing, People’s College of Nursing &
Research Centre, Bhanpur, Bhopal - 462037, E-mail: sheetal.das.2325@gmail.com
Submitted: 26.11.2022, Accepted: 12.06.2023, Published: 26.06.2023
INTRODUCTION:
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
emerged in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019. Since
then, it has spread to 200 countries and has been
declared a global pandemic by the World Health
Organization (WHO). To date, there are more than 2.3
million positive COVID-19 cases recorded with at
least 150,000 deaths globally. The first cases of
COVID-19 in India were reported in the towns of
Thrissur, Alappuzha, and Kasargod, all in the state of
Kerala, among three Indian medical students who had
returned from Wuhan. Lockdowns were announced in
Kerala on 23 March and in the rest of the country on 25
March. By mid-May 2020, five cities accounted for
around half of all reported cases in the country:
Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmadabad, Chennai, and Thane[1].
On 10 June, India's recoveries exceeded active cases
This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial
ShareALike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build
upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given
and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
For reprints contact: editor.pjsr@peoplesuniversity.edu.in
How to cite this article: Tiwari A, Verma A, Dwivedi A, Gautam D,
Lodhi A, Chourasia B, Mehra B, Das S, Gupta RR. EA Study to Assess
the Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Myths About Covid-19
Vaccination in Selected Rural Area Ratua at Bhopal (M.P.). PJSR.
2023;16(1):36-42.
Research Article
Access this article online
Quick Response Code:
Website:
www.pjsr.org
DOI:
doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8077079
People’s Journal of Scientific Research / Volume 16 / Issue 1 / Jan-June 2023
37
Tiwari A et al. Myths About Covid-19
for the first time Infection rates started to drop in
September, along with the number of new and active
cases. Daily cases peaked in mid-September with over
90,000 cases reported per day, dropping to below
15,000 in January 2021.
India began its vaccination program on 16
January 2021. As of 25 May 2021, the country had
administered over 200 million vaccine doses.
Scientists and researchers throughout the world have
been working relentlessly to find a way to get rid of the
lethal disease. About 2-3 million deaths per year have
been avoided by vaccination[2]. In pandemics such as
the 1957, 1968, 1976, and 1977 outbreaks and the
H5N1 outbreak (1997-1998), and the 2009 H1N1
outbreak, many vaccines were developed[3&4]. With the
approval of vaccines for COVID-19, it was expected
that the pandemic can be controlled. The discovery of
vaccination is considered as one of the great human
achievements when it comes to maintaining public
health.[5–8] vaccination is the most effective way of
controlling infectious diseases, yet success is
challenged by individuals and groups who choose to
delay or refuse vaccines.[9] Acceptance of a vaccine
or hesitancy has great public health implications as
these partly determine the extent to which people are
exposed to infections that could have otherwise been
prevented.[10] Hesitancy to be vaccinated can be driven
by several reasons such as negative medical family
experiences that are related to vaccinations of the
parents, concerns about the safety of the vaccines, and
religious or ethical reasons.[11] Research shows that
vaccine uptake can be influenced by several
factors.[12] Smith et al. found an association between
vaccine uptake and not perceiving vaccines to cause
adverse effects, general positive attitude towards
vaccination, positive vaccine recommendations,
perceiving fewer practical difficulties of vaccination,
perceived susceptibility to illness, knowledge about
the vaccine, social influences, trust in the health-care
profession, and having increased information about
the vaccine. Safety concerns, perceived low severity of
illness, lack of awareness, and belief in alternative
medicine are the common reasons for hesitancy
influenza vaccine in England while the factors
strongly negatively associated with uptake
included perceiving the vaccine to be unsafe, to
cause short-term side effects or long-term health
problems and believing that yearly vaccination may
overload the immune system. A study of the perceived
risks of vaccines in European populations revealed
that the primary area of concern was vaccine safety,
followed by perceptions of a low likelihood of
contracting vaccine-preventable diseases, perceived
low severity of vaccine-preventable diseases, beliefs
that vaccines do not work, and overall lack of
information. It is believed that children's uptake of the
vaccine is influenced by the socio-economic
characteristics of their parents[15]. We have conducted
this study to assess the knowledge and attitude
regarding myths about Covid-19 vaccination in
selected rural areas at Bhopal.
MATERIALS & METHODS:
A Descriptive Co-relational Study was
conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude
regarding Covid Vaccination among rural community
people of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. A review of the
literature and discussion with experts helped the
investigator to develop an appropriate tool for data
collection and design the methodology for the study.
Data was collected using a knowledge questionnaire,
which consisted of 30 items and 20 attitude statements.
The tool was prepared by the investigator and
validated by experts. Reliability was established by the
split-half method using Karl Pearson's correlation
formula. The reliability obtained was 0.85, which
proved that the tool was reliable. A pilot study was
conducted on 6 rural community people. This gave the
basis for the investigator to conduct the main study.
The main study was conducted on 30 rural community
people from a selected rural community from 1st June
to 20th June 2021. The obtained data were analyzed
considering the objectives and hypothesis using
descriptive and inferential statistics. The purpose of
present study was to assess the knowledge and attitude
of rural people regarding myths about Covid - 19
towards vaccination, [ 7 ] whereas healthcare Vaccination, in a selected rural area of Bhopal,
professionals' advice, advice from friends and family
members, self-protection, belief that vaccination is
mandatory, and being responsible have been reported
to be the factors affecting the general population's
support for vaccination.[13] Smith et al. found factors
such as having previously been vaccinated, perceiving
the vaccine to be effective, and perception of
susceptibility to the disease to be strongly
positively associated with the uptake of childhood
Madhya Pradesh. We included participants that were
present during the study period and excluded those
who were not willing. The questionnaire consisted of
2 sections A & B).
Section A: Consisted of 10 demographic variables like
– age, sex, religion, qualification of male, qualification
of female, occupation of male, occupation of female,
Tiwari A et al. Myths About Covid-19
38
People’s Journal of Scientific Research / Volume 16 / Issue 1 / Jan-June 2023
Table 1: Demographic distribution of the participants.
Variables Frequency Percentage
Age (Yrs)
area of residency, type of family.
Section B: Consisted of structured knowledge and
attitude questionnaire containing 30 questions. Each
right answer carries 1 mark and wrong answer carries 0
46 & above 9 30
Gender
Male 16 53.3333333
Female 14 46.6666667
Transgender 0 0
Religion
Hindu
determined.
Association between pretest knowledge and
demographic variables were calculated by chi square
test. Mean & standard deviation of pretest and post-test
knowledge scores were determined.
RESULTS:
The prospective study was carried out in a
rural district of Madhya Pradesh. After obtaining the
ethical clearance, the participants were identified.
They were explained about the study. 30 individuals
formed the study group. Most of the participants were
between 26 to 45 years and there were almost equal
number of males and females. None of the participants
were from government sector [Table 1].
This was followed by checking the pre-test
knowledge. The results showed that most of the
participants had some basic knowledge regarding the
Higher sec. 2 13.3333333
UG and PG 4 26.6666667
Others 5 33.3333333
Occupation of male
myths of Covid-19 vaccination [Table 2]. The post test
knowledge results were very encouraging. It revealed
that almost 83% participants improved their
knowledge [Table 3].
Table 2: Assessment of pretest knowledge of the participants
Criteria Frequency Percentage Mean SD
Poor 12 40
Occupation of female
Housewife 10 66.6666667
Govt job 1 6.66666667
Average 17 56.66667
Good 0 0 13 4.26
Private job 2 13.3333333
Semi private job 1 6.66666667
Monthly income (Rs)
<5000/ -
6
20
5001 -10000/-
15
50
10001 -20000/-
9
30
>20000/ -
0
0
Area of residence
Urban
0
0
Rural
30
100
Semi-urban 0 0
Table 3: Assessment of post-test knowledge of the
participants
Criteria Frequency Percentage Mean SD
Poor 02 6.66666%
Table 4: Effectiveness of knowledge.
Test Mean SD t-test
Nuclear
joint
Type of family
19 63.3333333
9 30
Pretest 13 4.26
Posttest 27.6 1.81 1.651
extended 2 6.66666667
15 -17
1
3.33333333
marks. Maximum score that can be achieved is 30.
18 -25
6
20
Knowledge level was then classified according to
26 -45
14
46.6666667
percentage of score. knowledge scores were
13
43.3333333
Muslim
10
33.3333333
Christian
1
3.33333333
Other
6
20
Qualification of male
Primary 7 46.6666667
Higher sec.
1
6.66666667
UG and PG
1
6.66666667
Others
7
46.6666667
Qualification of female
Primary
3
20
Govt. job
0
0
Private job
4
26.6666667
Semi private job
3
20
farmer
9
60
Average
03
10%
27.6 1.81
Good
25
83.333%
Tiwari A et al. Myths About Covid-19
People’s Journal of Scientific Research / Volume 16 / Issue 1 / Jan-June 2023
39
Table 5: Association of knowledge of participants with demographic variables.
Type of family
S=Significant; NS= Not significant
Variables
Poor
Average
Good
Total DF
chi-value
P-value
Inference
Age (Yrs)
15-17
0
0
1
1
18-25
4
2
0
6
6
60
0.066
S
26-45
6
8
0
14
46 & above
2
7
0
9
Gender
Male
10
5
1
16
Female
2
12
0
14
4
11.63
0.033
NS
Transgender
0
0
0
0
Religion
Hindu
6
7
0
13
Muslim
6
3
1
10
6
11.63
0.033
NS
Christian
0
1
0
1
Other
0
6
0
6
Qualification of male
Primary
5
1
1
7
Higher sec.
1
0
0
1
UG and PG
1
0
0
1
6
13.52
0.056
S
Others
1
6
0
7
Qualification of female
Primary
2
1
0
3
Higher sec.
1
0
1
2
UG and PG
4
0
0
4
6
11.63
0.077
S
Others
0
5
0
5
Occupation of male
Govt job
0
0
0
0
Private job
2
1
1
4
6
8.63
0.012
NS
Semi private job
2
1
0
3
farmer
2
7
0
9
Occupation of female
Housewife
4
5
1
10
Govt job
1
0
0
1
6
7.63
0.22
NS
Private job
1
1
0
2
Semi private job
1
0
0
1
Monthly income(Rs)
0
<5000/ -
3
2
1
6
5001 -10000/-
6
9
0
15
6
6.55
0.033
NS
10001 -20000/-
3
6
0
9
>20000/ -
0
0
0
0
Area of residence
Urban
0
0
0
0
Rural
12
17
1
30
4
3.55
0.55
NS
Semi-urban
0
0
0
0
Nuclear
9
9
1
19
4
4.56
0.066
S
joint
3
6
0
9
extended
0
2
0
2
Tiwari A et al. Myths About Covid-19
40
People’s Journal of Scientific Research / Volume 16 / Issue 1 / Jan-June 2023
Table 9: Association of pretest attitude of the person with selected demographic variables .
Variables
Strongly
Agree Disagree
Strongly
Total DF
Chi-
p-value Inference
S=Significant; NS= Not significant
agree
disagree
value
Age (Yrs)
15-17
0
0
1
0
0
1
18-25
0
1
5
0
6
9
30
0.056
S
26-45
0
3
11
0
14
46 & above
0
1
8
0
9
Gender
Male
0
3
13
0
16
Female
0
3
11
0
14
6
12.36
0.022
NS
Transgender
0
0
0
0
0
Religion
Hindu
0
1
12
0
13
Muslim
0
2
8
0
10
9
8.23
0.032
NS
Christian
0
1
0
0
1
Other
0
2
4
0
6
Qualification of male
Primary
0
1
6
0
7
Higher sec.
0
1
0
0
1
UG and PG
0
1
0
0
1
9
11.52
0.075
S
Others
0
4
3
0
7
Qualification of female
Primary
0
1
2
0
3
Higher sec.
0
1
1
0
2
9
7.52
0.063
S
UG and PG
0
2
2
0
4
Others
0
2
3
0
5
Occupation of male
Govt. job
Private job
0
0
0
1
0
3
0
0
0
4
9
8.63
0.012
NS
Semi private job
0
1
2
0
3
farmer
0
4
5
0
9
Occupation of female
Housewife
0
4
6
0
10
Govt. job
0
0
1
0
1
Private job
0
1
1
0
2
9
6.69
0.11
NS
Semi private job
0
1
0
0
1
Monthly income(Rs)
<5000/ -
0
2
4
0
6
5001 -10000/-
0
3
12
0
15
9
5.63
0.022
NS
10001 -20000/-
0
1
8
0
9
>20000/ -
0
0
0
0
0
Area of residence
Urban
0
0
0
0
Rural
0
6
0
30
6
2.52
0.45
NS
Semi-urban
0
0
0
0
Type of family
Nuclear
0
3
12
0
19
joint
0
3
6
0
9
6
3.33
0.062
S
extended
0
0
0
0
2
Tiwari A et al. Myths About Covid-19
People’s Journal of Scientific Research / Volume 16 / Issue 1 / Jan-June 2023
41
0 0
The results also depicted that the effectiveness of
knowledge of the person regarding myths surrounding
Covid-19 is statistically tested by applying student t-
test at the level of significance of 0.05. In our study the
calculated value 1.651 is less than table value <0.05
and so the hypothesis is accepted [Table 4]. The
association of knowledge of the participants regarding
myth about Covid-19 with selected demographic
variables was statistically tested. The variables such as
age, qualification of male and female and family type
was found significant. The other variables were found
non-significant [Table 5]. Assessment of pre-test
attitude & post-test attitude of person regarding myth
Covid-19 showed that 24 participants disagreed & 18
participants agreed respectively. Mean and SD also
justified that attitude. [Table 6 & Table 7]. The
effectiveness of attitude of the person regarding myth
of Covid-19 was statistically tested by applying
student t-test at the level of significance of 0.05. we
found that the value 1.227 was less than table value
<0.05 so the hypothesis is accepted [Table 8]. The
association of knowledge of the person regarding
myth about Covid-19 with demographic variables was
statistically tested by applying chi-square test. The
variables age, qualification of male and female and
family type were found significant. Other variables
were non-significant [Table 9].
Table 6: Assessment of pretest attitude of the participants
DISCUSSION:
The study was intended to evaluate the
effectiveness of information knowledge attitude
regarding myths about COVID-19 vaccination in
Ratua area at Bhopal (M.P.).
To achieve the objectives, pre-test & post-test
was conducted.
Self-structure questionnaire was used to
collect data on knowledge and attitude regarding
myths about COVID-19 vaccination. There have been
various studies and our results were in accordance to
them. [9]
CONCLUSION:
There was no significant association between
knowledge score and attitude score with selected
demographic variable like age, gender, religion,
education of male, education of female, occupation of
male, occupation of female, monthly income, type of
family. Methods to ascertain the general beliefs and
attitudes about Covid-19 vaccine should be
s t andardized and health care officers and
administrations should validate the questionnaires
regarding the myths surrounding Covid-19. This shall
enable overall acceptance of vaccines for life
threatening diseases such as Covid-19.
Financial Support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
Criteria Frequency % Mean SD
Strongly
agree
Agree 6 20 13.75 2.85
Disagree 24 80
There are no conflicts of interest.
REFERENCES:
1. Immunization 2021. https://www.who.int/news-
Strongly 0 0 room/facts-in-pictures/detail/immunization (accessed
disagree
Table 7: Assessment of posttest attitude of the participants.
Criteria Frequency % Mean SD
Strongly agree 11 36.66667
Agree 18 60 21.5 3.014
Disagree 1 3.333333
Strongly disagree 0 0
Table 8: Effectiveness of attitude of the participants
Test Mean SD t-value
Pretest 13.73 2.85 1.227
Posttest 21.5 3.014
February 20, 2021).
2. Wood JM. Developing vaccines against
pandemic influenza. Philos Trans R Soc
Lond B Biol Sci 2001;356:1953–60. https://
doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2001.0981.
3. Zimmer C, Corum J, Wee S-L. Coronavirus Vaccine
Tracker. N Y Times 2021
4. Papagiannis D. The Lack of Vaccinesin the Recent
COVID-19 Pandemic and the Silence of Anti-
vaccination Activists. Hellenic J Nursing. 2020;59
(4):348–352.
5. Deml MJ, Jafflin K, Merten S, et al. Determinants
of vaccine hesitancy in Switzerland: study protocol
of a mixed-methods national research program.
BMJ Open. 2019;9(11):e032218. doi:10.1136/
bmjopen-2019-032218
6. Yaqob O, Clarke CS, Sevdalis N, Chataway J.
Attitudes to vaccination: a critical review. Soc Sci
Tiwari A et al. Myths About Covid-19
42
People’s Journal of Scientific Research / Volume 16 / Issue 1 / Jan-June 2023
Med. 2014;112:1–11. doi:10.1016/j. socscimed.
2014;04.018
7. Nzaji KM, Ngombe KL, Mwamba NG, et al.
Acceptability of Vaccination against Covid-19 among
healthcare workers in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. Pragmatic Observational Res. 2020;11
:103–109. doi:10.2147/POR.S271096
8. Paterson P, Paterson P, Meurice F, Stanberry LR,
Glismann S, Rosenthal SL. Vaccine hesitancy and
healthcare providers. Vaccine. 2016;34:6700.
doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.10.0425
9. Dyda A, King C, Dey A, Leask J, Dunn AG. A
systematic review of studies that measure parental
vaccine attitudes and beliefs in childhood
vaccination. BMC Public Health. 2020;1253:1–8.
10. Thorsteinsson EB, Draper A, Lykins D. To Vaccinate or
Not: the Relative Impact of Attitudes toward Autism
Spectrum Disorders and the Ability to Interpret
Scientific Information on Vaccination Decisions. Int J
Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(7):2542.
doi:10.3390/ijerph17072542
11 Smith L, Amlot R, Weinman J, Yiend J, Rubin J.
A systematic review of factors affecting vaccine
uptake in young children. Vaccine. 2017;35(45)
:6059–6069. doi:10.1016/ j.vaccine. 2017.09.046
12. Smith LE, Webster KR, Weinman J, Amlot R,
Yiend J. Psychological factors associated with
uptake of the childhood influenza vaccine and
perception of post-vaccination side-effects: a cross-
sectional survey in England. Vaccine. 1936–1945;
2017(35).
13. Neumann-Böhme S, Varghese NE, Sabat I, et al.
Once we have it, will we use it? A European
survey on willingness to be vaccinated against
COVID-19. Eur J Health Econ. 2020;21(7):977-982.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-020-01208-6
14. Freeman D, Loe BS, Chadwick A, et al. COVID-19
vaccine hesitancy in the UK: the Oxford coronavirus
explanations, attitudes, and narratives survey (Oceans)
II. Psychol Med. 2020;1-15. https://doi.org/10.1017/
s0033291720005188
15. Lazarus JV, Ratzan SC, Palayew A, et al. A global
survey of potential acceptance of a COVID-19 vaccine
correction appears in Nat Med. 2021 Jan 11;:]. Nat
Med. 2021 ; 27 ( 2 ) : 225 - 228 . https:// doi. org
/10.1038/s41591-020-1124-9
16. Myocarditis/Pericarditis case definition brighton
collaboration. Available at:- https://brightoncoll-
aboration. US/ Myocarditis- case- definition-
update/.accessed 22july 2021
17. Population by sex and age census and statistics
department, the government the HKSAR updated
august 12/2021 Available at :- https://www.
censtatd.gov.hk/en/web _table. html, id-1B accessed
21 September 2019.
18. Kwan MYW,Chua GT, Chow CB, et al mRNA Covid
vaccine an myocarditis in adolesents.Hongkong med j
2021 27:326-7
19. Li X,Tong X Yeung WWY.et al doi:10 1136/annrheu-
mdis-2021-221571.
