Interrelation between the level of the cognitive component of health behavior among students and refusal of COVID-19 vaccination

The widespread occurrence of the new coronavirus infection, sometimes inaccurate information from media, word of mouth, general anxiety and panic against the backdrop of new restrictions and a changed lifestyle has led to the population refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The novel coronavirus infection is an acute viral disease with a predominant upper respiratory tract infection caused by an RNA-containing virus of the genus Betacoronavirus of the Coronaviridae family [6]. The article aims to analyze the cognitive component of health behavior among students of different courses, that is, the awareness of young people of the new coronavirus infection, vaccines against it and the response to them, as well as the relationship with the willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The relevance of the study was determined by the refusal of COVID-19 vaccination due to the low population’s awareness of vaccines, their effect on the body and general and local response to it (the cognitive component of health behavior). The study involved 249 students of the 1st, 2nd and senior courses of Ulyanovsk State University up to 30 years old. The respondents were asked to study the psychological characteristics of their health behavior, which included a questionnaire by R. A. Berezovskaya. "Attitude to health". The research questions were divided into four scales: cognitive, emotional, behavioral, value-motivational. First-year and undergraduate students had higher cognitive component scores and less fear of COVID-19 vaccination compared to the second-year students. In the course of the study, it became clear that the fear of vaccination against COVID-19 depends on the cognitive component of health behavior. This indicator is quite low in those who were not vaccinated and in those who were vaccinated, fearing it, which led to the occurrence of psychosomatic reactions.