Open Access

Muhammad Thesa Ghozali, Satibi, Gerhard Fortwengel, Zullies Ikawati, Lutfan Lazuardi

• Vaccine hesitancy, notably for COVID-19 immunization, is intensified by the extensive transmission of misinformation, leading to increased fear among prospective recipients. This study sought to assess the efficacy of an app-supported health promotion in easing COVID-19 vaccine-related anxiety, while concurrently determining the baseline prevalence of such anxiety among the target demographic. The research employed a pre-test-post-test design and was conducted from early March to the end of August in rural regions of Yogyakarta. The intervention utilized a mobile application that delivered precise and current vaccine information. Anxiety levels of participants were assessed pre- and post-intervention utilizing a standardized questionnaire, and the results were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Preliminary findings indicated that 56.90% of participants (n=268) exhibited "mild to moderate" anxiety levels before to the intervention. Following the intervention, this figure markedly diminished, with merely 171 or 36.30% of all participants reporting "mild to moderate" levels and 129 or 27.39% of all participants indicating "moderate to severe" anxiety levels. The decrease in anxiety levels was statistically significant, with a p-value of 0.001. The results indicate that mobile app-based educational interventions can significantly alleviate COVID-19 vaccination-related fear among rural residents in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This method possesses the potential to mitigate vaccine reluctance and improve vaccine acceptability, providing a significant strategy for managing the COVID-19 pandemic and facilitating future global immunization initiatives.