Elsevier

Journal of Adolescent Health

Volume 47, Issue 3, September 2010, Pages 305-308
Journal of Adolescent Health

Adolescent health brief
How Parents Hear About Human Papillomavirus Vaccine: Implications for Uptake

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.04.003Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

To examine correlates of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine awareness and information sources in a state requiring schools to inform parents about HPV vaccine.

Methods

Telephone survey of a North Carolina population-based sample of 696 parents of females aged 10–17 years about HPV vaccine awareness and information sources (daughters' schools, healthcare provider, drug company advertisements, news stories) was conducted.

Results

Overall, 91% of parents had heard of HPV vaccine. Parents were more likely to be aware if they had household incomes of $50,000 or higher, were women, had non-Hispanic white daughters, or had daughters vaccinated against meningitis. Information sources included drug company advertisements (64%), healthcare providers (50%), news stories (50%), and schools (9%). Only parents who heard from their children's healthcare providers were more likely to initiate HPV vaccine for their daughters.

Conclusions

Parents had rarely heard of the vaccine through schools. The only source associated with vaccine initiation was hearing from a healthcare provider.

Section snippets

Methods

Participants were a population-based sample of 696 parents of 10–17-year-old females in North Carolina. They completed the 2008 Child Health Assessment and Monitoring Program Survey of caregivers for children aged <18 years, a follow-up survey to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey of adults [8].

The survey assessed parents' HPV vaccine awareness with the question, “Have you ever heard of the HPV vaccine?” For parents who had heard of it, questions assessed whether they had

Results

Most parents (91%) reported having heard of HPV vaccine. In multivariate analyses, parents were less likely to be aware of HPV vaccine if they were male, or had daughters who were non-Hispanic African-American or other races/ethnicities than non-Hispanic white (Table 1). Vaccine awareness was higher among parents from households with incomes of $50,000 or higher versus less than $50,000, or who reported having daughters already vaccinated against meningitis.

Of parents who had heard of HPV

Discussion

How parents of adolescent girls heard about HPV vaccine varied substantially in this population-based survey. Although awareness was nearly universal among parents with higher income or white daughters, many parents with lower income or non-white daughters had not heard of HPV vaccine. Differential consumption of news about HPV vaccine is one potential explanation for differences in vaccine awareness [1]. Most parents had heard through drug company advertising, healthcare providers, and news

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (S3715-25/25), Cancer Control Education Program at Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (R25 CA57726), and American Cancer Society (MSRG-06-259-01-CPPB). The authors thank Donna Miles, James Cassell, Harry Herrick, Bob Woldman, and the staff at the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics for their assistance.

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