Mobile App-Assisted Patient Education in the Public Health: Minimizing Vaccine Anxiety and Managing Long-Term and Post-Covid-19 Effects

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. © © 2025 by Indonesian Journal of Pharmacy (IJP).