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Providers need to continually promote HPV vaccine to parents
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BETHESDA, Md. — The gap between parents who express at least mild interest in having their adolescents vaccinated against HPV and those who follow through with the vaccination may signal the need for more follow-up on the part of health care providers, according to research presented at the Annual Conference on Vaccine Research.
“I think that this study shows that some parents are still in the decision-making phase with regard to vaccination, while others are in the implementation phase,” Beth Auslander, PhD, of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, told Infectious Disease News. “Thus, when counseling families on HPV vaccination, providers are encouraged to develop communication strategies that help them identify where parents are in the process of deciding and implementing vaccination, so that they can target their messages appropriately.”
The study of 31 parents — 15 of whom said in a previous study that they intended to have their adolescents vaccinated and 16 who expressed uncertainty — showed that 52% never had their adolescents vaccinated for HPV. This included seven parents who said they intended to vaccinate their adolescents earlier, but did not follow through.
Beth Auslander
Among the parents who said they intended to have their adolescents vaccinated, reasons for not following through included the assumption that their adolescents were already vaccinated; a desire to wait for the 9-valent HPV vaccine; concerns that the HPV vaccination might promote sex; and procrastination. Reasons why unsure parents did not follow through with vaccination included misinformation about the HPV vaccine; a feeling that the vaccine would have little benefit; and concerns about potential long-term side effects.
All of the parents in the study were women (mean age, 40 years). Of these, 42% were black, 32% were Hispanic, 23% were white, and 3% were of another race/ethnicity. The mean age of the adolescents was 13 years; 67% were male.
HPV vaccines are routinely recommended for all adolescents to help in the prevention of cervical and anal cancers, genital warts and other cancers, the researchers noted. – by David Jwanier
Reference:
Auslander B, et al. Reasons for the Gap between Parental Intentions and Initiation of HPV Vaccination. Presented at: Annual Conference on Vaccine Research; April 13-15, 2015; Bethesda, Maryland.
Disclosure: Auslander reports being an investigator on investigator-initiated studies funded by Merck. See the conference program book for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.