Parental Education and HPV Vaccination Intent

Abstract

Abstract The human papillomavirus (HPV) is responsible for 99% of cervical cancers and a large number of cancers, including vulvar, vaginal, oropharyngeal, anal and penile cancers. An HPV vaccine was introduced in the United States in 2006, and is now recommended for males and females 9 to 26 years of age. The vaccine has been shown to be both safe and efficacious. Despite this, HPV vaccination rates remain low in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only 60% of females and 56% of males age 9-17 years old have initiated the two- to three-dose series. The purpose of this project was to evaluate parental intent to vaccinate and vaccine uptake in age-appropriate children who have not received the HPV vaccine after brief educational intervention on HPV and HPV vaccine. A county health department in the Midwest region of the United States was the site for this educational project with a convenience sample of 20 individuals. Two registered nurses were educated on the project and were given a script, which highlighted the key points of an educational pamphlet from the CDC on the HPV virus and vaccination to review with parents. The outcomes were evaluated using the same three questions pre- and post-test. By providing education about the human papillomavirus to parents and increasing awareness regarding the importance of vaccination, the author anticipated increased intent to vaccinate and improved vaccination uptake within the participants. The pre-test indicated half of the parents surveyed (n=10) believed HPV to be the most prevalent sexually transmitted infection, while the remainder did not believe it was the most commoninfection. Most parents (n=16, 80%) did feel the vaccine was safe and effective. The same number of parents(n=16) were planning on vaccinating their children against HPV. The post-test demonstrated slightly more parents (n=12, 60%) believed that HPV was the most common disease after the educational intervention. After the educational intervention there was also a slight increase in parents (n=18) that believed the vaccine to be safe and planned on vaccinating their child. The author anticipated a more robust increase in both knowledge and intent to vaccinate after the educational intervention. In analyzing both the pre-test and post-test it appeared the majority of parents surveyed had knowledge of the vaccine and believed the vaccine to be safe prior to participating in the survey. Fewer parents (n=10) were unaware that HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection. Keywords: human papillomavirus, HPV, HPV vaccine, vaccine uptake, intent to vaccinat