It is crucial to reveal the attitudes and behaviours of individuals towards the COVID-19 disease to be able to develop the right health policies and interventions. With this research we examined the effects of pre-school teachers’ COVID-19 fear levels on their attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine. The study was carried out with 405 pre-school teachers from 34 different provinces of Turkey who participated voluntarily. In this study, descriptive data were collected online. The data were obtained using the introductory information form, the COVID-19 fear scale, and the COVID-19 attitude towards vaccination scale. We determined that the negative attitudes towards the vaccine differed significantly according to age group and that the attitudes of younger teachers towards the vaccine were more negative. It has been revealed that pre-school teachers’ fear of COVID 19 had a significant and positive effect on the development of a positive attitude towards the COVID-19 vaccine (p < 0.001), while the effect of fear of COVID-19 on the negative attitude towards the vaccine was not significant. Public health experts point out that many infectious diseases may occur in the future. Teachers educate future generations and serve as role models for children and their families. Therefore, determining the fears and attitudes of teachers on COVID-19 and similar infectious diseases may turn a possible crisis into an opportunity.

https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v45ns2a2452

ORCiD iDs of authors:
Emine Yilmaz-Bolat - https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1062-4752
Merve Koyuncu - https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2813-4986
Büşra Yürük - https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1428-9242