PhD Viva Voce

Qualifications Attained:

Mr. Swaib is a PhD candidate by Thesis in the Department of Educational Psychology and Curriculum Studies (EPCS), School of Education at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). In 2014, he obtained a Master of Arts in Applied Social Psychology (MA. ASP) Degree from the University of Dar es Salaam and a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resources Management in 2011 from the Institute of Finance Management (PGD. HRM) (IFM). In 2008, he attained a Bachelor of Arts with Education (BA. ED) from the University of Dar es Salaam. Currently, Swaib teaches Guidance and Counselling, General Psychology, Research Methodology, and Organizational Behaviour at the National Institute of Transport. His research interests include Health Promotion Behaviours among Youths, HIV/AIDS Counselling among Youths, Normative and Attitudinal Influence on Well-being, and subscribes mainly to the Mixed Methods of Inquiry.

Abstract:

The COVID-19 outbreak had an impact on university students all around the world, and as a result of their abrupt changes in lifestyle and concerns for their personal safety, many of them developed severe psychological disorders. This made the implementation of advised tactics necessary, most notably vaccination in an effort to fight the virus. However, the degree to which the public thought this tactic was suitable determined how acceptable it was. This study explored the influence of subjective and personal norms on response to COVID-19 vaccination call among university students in Tanzania. Specifically, the study sought to examine students’ response to the COVID-19 vaccination call during the times of the pandemic; secondly, to examine the influence of subjective injunctive norms on response to COVID-19 vaccination. Thirdly, to examine the influence of subjective descriptive norms on response to COVID-19 vaccination, and lastly; to establish the effect of personal norms on Response to COVID-19 vaccination call among university students. Guided by the pragmatic paradigm, the study used the explanatory sequential mixed methods research design in which simple random sampling was used to obtain 532 students from the University of Dar es Salaam who participated in the questionnaire survey. Purposive sampling was used to select 44 students, and 4 healthcare workers respectively who responded to follow-up face-face interviews. Results indicated that, 29.9% had prior intentions to obtain vaccination, this was significantly predicted more by injunctive norms (Nagelkerke R² = .124) compared to descriptive norms (Nagelkerke R² = .087). Intention accounted for 29.2% (phi = .292) of the variance in actual vaccination uptake; ꭓ² (1, 532) = 45.5, p = .000. It emerged that although intentions predicted actual vaccination significantly, there was a 32.2% proportion of students whose positive vaccination status by-passed the moderation of intention. The intention-behaviour gap was obvious in the sense that only 11.1% obtained vaccination whereby descriptive norms were more significantly associated with actual uptake (Nagelkerke R² = .183) than injunctive norms (Nagelkerke R² = .116). At a personal level, some students were inspired by their internalised religious teachings caused them to believe that vaccination could not stop death if it had to happen, thus there was no reason to give in to external pressures to obtain vaccination. Lastly, the hesitancy to obtain vaccination was to a larger extent attributable to the statements that were made by the political elite, and parents’ opinions about vaccination which laid down grounds for the beliefs that surrounded the whole vaccination program among students. The study concludes that subjective norms opposing the COVID-19 vaccination had a negative impact on students' response to the vaccination call, resulting in a significantly lower turn-up for vaccination. Accordingly, the Ministry in charge of health should restrict individuals from making strong claims that are not fully supported by expert opinions, as these can thwart public health interventions that would otherwise have been a means of guaranteeing the welfare of the public.