Evaluation of Spiritual Well-Being, Vaccine Hesitancy, and Vaccine Advocacy Among Parents of Children Aged 0–2 Years

Purpose: Although vaccination is one of the most effective public health interventions against infectious diseases, vaccine hesitancy has been increasing globally. Parental vaccine decisions may be influenced by multidimensional factors, including belief systems and spiritual well-being. This study evaluates the relationships between spiritual well-being, vaccine hesitancy, and vaccine advocacy among parents of children aged 0–2 years.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 164 parents at the Pediatric Outpatient Clinics and Wards of Sivas Cumhuriyet University between 16 January and 2 April 2026. Data were collected using the Spirituality Index of Well-Being (SIWB), the Vaccine Conspiracy Beliefs Scale (VCBS), and the Vaccine Advocacy Scale (VAS). Mann Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis (Bonferroni post-hoc), Spearman correlation, and binary logistic regression were used.Results: Of the parents, 17.1% (n=28) had refused or delayed at least one vaccine. SIWB correlated negatively with VCBS (rs=-0.167, p=0.033) and positively with VAS (rs=0.235, p=0.002). VCBS correlated negatively with VAS (rs=-0.344, p