Attitudes towards vaccination among parents of children aged 0–5 years: A scale development study.

Background: Vaccination is the most important public health practice for preventing infectious diseases and maintaining health. However, some parents are hesitant to vaccinate their children. Design: This study was designed as an instrument development study. Methods: This study aimed to develop a scale to measure the attitudes of parents with children aged 0–5 years towards vaccination and to evaluate the validity and reliability of this scale. The data were collected from 691 participants between November 2020 and January 2021. During the development of the scale, experts provided feedback on its technical, content and language dimensions. The data were analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses for conceptual validity and Cronbach's α and item‐level test–retest analyses for reliability. Results: The developed scale is a reliable and valid tool for measuring attitudes towards vaccination among parents (Cronbach's α = 0.97, variance explained by these 28‐item two factors = 62.47%). Conclusion: This scale can be used as a guide in measuring the attitudes of parents towards vaccination and determining the direction of primary health‐care services based on the results of the measurement. Summary statement: What is already known about this topic? Vaccination plays an important role in health practice.Parents' attitudes towards vaccination affect their children's vaccination status.Increasing vaccination rates in children will contribute to the reduction of infectious diseases and mortality. What this paper adds? A new valid and reliable measurement tool for determining vaccine hesitancy has been developed.The validity and reliability of the scale of attitudes towards vaccination among parents of children aged 0–5 years were tested.The tool could be used to determine the attitudes of parents of children aged 0–5 years towards vaccination. The implications of this paper The scale may help in determining factors affecting parents' attitudes on vaccination.The scale can generate data to guide nursing practices to increase vaccination rates.The scale can be used to influence nursing practices to increase vaccination rates and promote vaccine awareness, trust and acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]