Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: May 3, 2022
Date Accepted: Sep 6, 2022
MEASURING DIGITAL VACCINE LITERACY: DEVELOPMENT AND PSYCHOMETRIC ASSESSMENT OF THE DVL SCALE
ABSTRACT
Background:
The use of the Internet to look for information about vaccines has skyrocketed in the last years, especially with the Covid-19 crisis. Digital vaccine literacy refers to understanding, trust, appraisal and application of vaccine-related information online.
Objective:
To develop a tool measuring digital vaccine literacy and assess its psychometric properties.
Methods:
A seven-item online questionnaire was administered to 848 French adults. Performed psychometric analyses were: descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, reliability, consistency, and convergent and discriminatory validity.
Results:
We obtained the Digital Vaccine Literacy (DVL) 7-item scale composed of 3 factors (understanding and trust official information; understanding and trust information in social media; and appraisal of vaccine information online in terms of evaluation of the information and its application for decision-making). The mean DVL score was 19.5 (± 2.8) with a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 28. The median was 20 and 25% had a score below 18 and 25% above 21. Scores were significantly different by sex, age, studying or working in the field of health, and receiving regular flu shots.
Conclusions:
The DVL tool showed good content validity, reliability, internal consistency and convergent and discriminant validity, thus proving to be a promising measure of digital vaccine literacy. Clinical Trial: None
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