COVID-19 phobia, response to the vaccine and the right of urban migrant dwellers in the Ghanaian slums
International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare
ISSN: 2056-4902
Article publication date: 27 January 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigate urban migrant dwellers’ gender and age differences in response to the specific phobia of COVID-19 and hesitancy toward vaccines in the slum settlements.
Design/methodology/approach
The study anchored on the two-factor model proposed by Mowrer (1939) and used a quantitative design approach with a convenience sampling method for data gathering among 362 urban migrants residing and working in the cities of Ghana. The study used the Mann–Whitney U test and the regression analysis for the analysis.
Findings
The result showed that there is a significant difference between males and females in their understanding of economic phobia, thoughts on social phobia and perception level of vaccine hesitancy. Additionally, there is a significant difference between age groups in their level of thoughts of psychological phobia, economic phobia and thoughts of vaccine hesitancy. Finally, the specific of phobias of COVID-19 are significant predictors of vaccine hesitancy.
Research limitations/implications
This research is slum-specific, which implies that the outcome cannot be generalized to other geographical settings.
Practical implications
The study demonstrates how a pandemic manifests itself to dwellers in slums. The outcome of the study sheds light on how policymakers appreciate the dynamics of the pandemic in a developing country, which may guide future responses to pandemics.
Originality/value
The outcome of the study sheds light on how policymakers appreciate the dynamics of the pandemic in a developing country, which may guide future responses to pandemics.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements: The authors thank all authors included in this project.
Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests.
Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interest.
Authors’ contribution: Mr Anthony Nkrumah Agyabeng identified the research gap, formulated the topic, drafted the background writing and implications. Dr Alexander Preko reviewed the literature, developed the hypothesis, contextualized the variable and analyzed the data. Dr Kofi Hilla Avusuglo wrote the methodology and discussed the findings. The authors have unanimously agreed to add the following co-authors’ because they had them in working on all the queries from the reviewers. Dr Anthony Sumnaya Kumasey proofread the paper, beefed-up the background and wrote the future studies. Mr Akwasi Sarfo Kantaka responded to the reviewers’ queries on the methodology and proofread the paper. Mr Mawuli Feglo-beefed-up the analysis and responded to the reviewers’ queries on the discussion.
Citation
Agyabeng, A.N., Preko, A., Avusuglo, K.H., Kumasey, A.S., Kantanka, A.S. and Feglo, M. (2023), "COVID-19 phobia, response to the vaccine and the right of urban migrant dwellers in the Ghanaian slums", International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHRH-06-2022-0057
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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