Skip to main content

Abstract

Objective:

The authors examined attitudes toward and uptake of COVID-19 vaccination among individuals with serious mental illness or substance use disorder.

Methods:

Clients of a community mental health center in Texas (N=50) participated in semistructured, in-person interviews regarding their COVID-19 vaccination decision. Thematic analysis was used to analyze interview data.

Results:

Most participants (68%) reported receipt of at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. Participants were motivated to get vaccinated mostly by a desire to protect themselves or others. Convenience of vaccination location and access to free vaccination facilitated vaccine uptake. However, concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine were common among both vaccinated and unvaccinated participants and could be reinforced or overcome by social network influences.

Conclusions:

Fear, uncertainty, and conflicting vaccine information were common themes in the COVID-19 vaccination decisions of behavioral health service clients. Improving access to information from trusted sources, including health care providers, could help to overcome vaccine concerns in this population.

Get full access to this article

View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Psychiatric Services
Go to Psychiatric Services
Psychiatric Services
Pages: 1281 - 1284
PubMed: 37461817

History

Received: 13 January 2023
Revision received: 26 April 2023
Accepted: 4 May 2023
Published online: 18 July 2023
Published in print: December 01, 2023

Keywords

  1. Community mental health centers
  2. Mental illness
  3. COVID-19
  4. vaccination
  5. hesitancy
  6. fear

Authors

Details

Lexie R. Grove, Ph.D., M.S.P.H.
Department of Population Health (Grove) and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Emerson, Merola, Andries, Cohen), Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin; Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health, Steve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin (Cohen).
Kaleigh R. Emerson, M.P.H., M.S.S.W.
Department of Population Health (Grove) and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Emerson, Merola, Andries, Cohen), Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin; Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health, Steve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin (Cohen).
Laura Stevens Merola, M.Ed., L.P.C.
Department of Population Health (Grove) and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Emerson, Merola, Andries, Cohen), Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin; Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health, Steve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin (Cohen).
Spencer Andries, B.S.
Department of Population Health (Grove) and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Emerson, Merola, Andries, Cohen), Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin; Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health, Steve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin (Cohen).
Deborah Ann Cohen, Ph.D., M.S.W. [email protected]
Department of Population Health (Grove) and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Emerson, Merola, Andries, Cohen), Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin; Texas Institute for Excellence in Mental Health, Steve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin (Cohen).

Notes

Send correspondence to Dr. Cohen ([email protected]).

Competing Interests

The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Funding Information

This work was supported by Austin Public Health.

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Export Citations

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.

Format
Citation style
Style
Copy to clipboard

View Options

Login options

Already a subscriber? Access your subscription through your login credentials or your institution for full access to this article.

Personal login Institutional Login Open Athens login
Purchase Options

Purchase this article to access the full text.

PPV Articles - Psychiatric Services

PPV Articles - Psychiatric Services

Not a subscriber?

Subscribe Now / Learn More

PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5-TR® library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development.

Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.).

View options

PDF/EPUB

View PDF/EPUB

Full Text

View Full Text

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Share article link

Share