The Role of Communication in Shaping COVID-19 Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice and Vaccine-Related Decision-Making Among a Selected Group of Immigrants in the U.S. and Canada: An Exploratory Study

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Informed by the ideological health spirals model and ecological model and consideration for a holistic approach to vaccine decision-making, we conducted qualitative interviews to understand COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of a group of immigrants in the U.S. and Canada. We also examine the influence of communication on decision-making involved in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine among this group. The interview findings suggest various communication sources, along with existing belief systems participants held, interact and impact their COVID-19 attitudes and vaccine-related decision-making. Specifically, information sources regarding the vaccine, interpersonal (knowledge networks), and mass communication sources, act in a reinforcing spiral model. Practical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.