Psychosocial Dimension of Healthcare Professionals Vaccine Resistance: A Qualitative Study the Case of Turkey

The purpose of the present study was to examine the reasons for the vaccine resistance of healthcare employees, which may affect public health adversely during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to contribute to the solutions which can be developed. The phenomenological research design, which is a qualitative research design, was used in the study. This qualitative study was conducted with 35 healthcare professionals. Interviews were conducted with the WhatsApp. The data were analyzed by using Colaizzi’s Phenomenological Analysis Method. Two categories, five main themes, and eighteen sub-themes were created in the analysis of the data. There was the theme of psychological effects, physical effects, and social effects in the impact of COVID-19 on the healthcare employee category. There were the themes of lack of trust and risk in the category of reasons for not vaccinating healthcare employees. It was found in the present study that healthcare employees were adversely affected psychologically, physically, and socially during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 26 healthcare Employees declared that they did not trust the vaccine and did not have it because of the risks, and 9 healthcare employees declared that they had the vaccine because they trusted it. Although the healthcare professionals working in the Southeastern Anatolia and Eastern Anatolia Regions had vaccine rejection in Turkey, healthcare professionals working in the Aegean Region and the Mediterranean Region were those who had the least vaccine rejection.