Attitudes towards refugees: Introducing a short three-dimensional scale.

Many researchers subscribe to the three-component conceptualization of attitudes, the idea that attitudes have cognitive, affective, and behavioural (intentional) components. Yet, these components are rarely considered simultaneously in scales, especially those measuring attitudes towards refugees. Moreover, it is debated how these components relate to one another. We present the development and validation of a six-item short-scale to measure attitudes towards refugees based on three surveys (Study 1: N = 330; Study 2a: N = 2,083; Study 2b: N = 2,174). We assessed the performance of this scale with respect to three rivalling attitude conceptualizations (one-factor, three-factor, and second-order factor model). We found that a three-factor or second-order factor conceptualization fitted best to the data. The scale had excellent psychometric properties. We hope that our work stimulates a wave of relevant research on attitudes towards refugees that applies this scale, and contributes to the debate on the conceptualization of attitudes in general.

How (not) to mobilize health workers in the fight against vaccine hesitancy: Experimental evidence from Germany's AstraZeneca controversy.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 vaccine hesistancy is a serious policy issue in Germany as vaccinations have stagnated at low levels compared to most other European countries. In this context, we study whether and how health workers can be leveraged to promote the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. METHODS: We employed an information experiment with health workers in Germany to quantify how access to information related to (i) AstraZeneca's vaccine safety, (ii) misinformation, (iii) individual health risks, and (iv) public health risks can sway health workers' recommendations for any of the following vaccines: AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech, Sinopharm, and Sputnik-V. The information experiment was conducted as a randomized controlled trial with four treatment arms and was embedded in an online survey. RESULTS: Health workers reduce their willingness to recommend four out of six vaccines once they learn about different statements of European and German health authorities with respect to the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Consistent with the discussion on AstraZeneca's safety focusing on possible side effects among younger women, we find that especially female health workers become less likely to recommend the majority of COVID-19 vaccines. Lastly, we show that health workers vaccine recommendations are not affected by misinformation and appeals to individual or public health. CONCLUSION: In order to mobilize health workers in the fight against vaccine hesitancy, information campaigns need to be tailor-made for the target audience. In particular, health workers react to different types of information than the general public. As with the general public, we provide suggestive evidence that health workers require unambigious messages from drug authorities in order to support vaccination efforts. We believe that a more coordinated and coherent approach of public authorities can reduce the amount of mixed signals that health workers receive and therefore contribute to health workers engagement in the outroll of mass COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was registered retrospectively with the repository of the Open Science Framework (OSF) under the number osf.io/qa4n2 .