Background: With the development of COVID-19 vaccines, experts predicted that COVID-19 will soon be eradicated. However, despite the availability of several types of COVID-19 vaccines, some people refused to receive any. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of an educational intervention based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) on the intention to receive the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine among Iranian people aged 18 or older with a history of not receiving the third dose of this vaccine.
Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted without a control group on 100 people aged 18 years or older who had not received the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Bushehr, Iran, in 2022‎. The subjects were selected using the SIB system and available sampling method. The educational intervention included eight training sessions based on the TPB constructs using group discussion and question and answer method along with an educational booklet. Before and two months after the educational intervention, the participants completed a researcher-made questionnaire based on the TPB constructs. The data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 16.0).
Results: A total of 100 people aged 18 years or older with a mean age of 36+11.400 participated in this study. The results of paired t-tests showed that the mean scores of constructs of the TPB (attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intention) of the participants increased after the educational intervention (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The educational program designed based on the TPB is useful to change attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intention of individuals to receive the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.