Impact of information presentation and cognitive load on views toward COVID-19 booster vaccines

This study will investigate the effects of presenting long COVID and booster-related information on vaccine intentions, knowledge, and attitudes, when the information is presented in terms of either general or specific outcomes. General information will show the likelihood of developing at least one long COVID symptom (with vs. without boosters), while specific information will additionally show likelihoods for 5 specific long COVID symptomatic categories (cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, pulmonary, metabolic, neurological). Additionally, some participants will be allocated to a cognitive load condition, wherein they will be asked to memorise and later recall a 7-digit number. The purpose of this is to investigate whether an interaction exists between presentation type and cognitive load. Participants (from the student population) will be able to access the survey link via the Usyd SONApsych website, once they have signed up to participate in the study. Upon starting the survey, participants will be randomised to 1 of 4 conditions via the Qualtrics Randomiser feature. The four conditions are: 1. General-with-load (general long COVID information and additional cognitive load) 2. General-no-load (general information and no additional cognitive load) 3. Specific-with-load (specific long COVID information and additional cognitive load) 4. Specific-no-load (specific long COVID information and no additional cognitive load) Each information package is anticipated to take 1-2 minutes to read. Participants who are asked to recall the 7-digit number will be asked to do so right after they have viewed the long COVID information (i.e. they will have to retain the 7-digit number for the duration that they are viewing the long COVID information). To monitor attention to the survey, we will include an attention check in the outcome questions. The question will ask participants to select a certain response.