Original articleHPV Vaccine Promotion: Does Referring to Both Cervical Cancer and Genital Warts Affect Intended and Actual Vaccination Behavior?
Section snippets
Participants
A sample of 159 female first-year psychology students from the University of Sydney who were under the age of 27 participated in this study. Women who had already received the HPV vaccine were excluded. Because of the timing of the current study (conducted between June and August 2007), it is highly unlikely that participants had been offered the HPV vaccine by a health professional. Recruitment was conducted via the university online sign-up system Experimetrix and participants received course
Participant Characteristics
A total of 159 young women participated (response rate 95%), with 81 randomized to the CC and 78 to the CC + GW condition. There was a significant difference in father’s educational level between the CC and CC + GW conditions (χ21 = 6.12; p = .05; Table 1). However, there were no significant differences between the two conditions on the other demographic characteristics and sexual history. The mean age of the participants was 19 years (SD = 1.18). The majority of participants came from a highly
Discussion
This study assessed HPV knowledge, examined the effect of differential information-framing (CC versus CC + GW) on intention and receipt of HPV vaccination, and employed the HBM to identify health beliefs that predict HPV vaccination intention and uptake behavior.
In line with previous research (e.g., Cooper-Robbins et al., 2010, Licht et al., 2010, Mosavel and El-Shaarawi, 2007), substantial gaps in HPV knowledge were identified in this sample, with approximately half of the young women having
Implications and Conclusions
A number of the study’s findings have clinical implications for the way the vaccine is promoted and/or administered in the future. Participants who were already sexually experienced, and thus potentially already infected by the virus, had significantly higher intentions to vaccinate scores compared with those who had never had sexual intercourse. Educating women effectively about the need for vaccination before sexual debut is therefore a priority. Participants with high opposition to vaccines
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