Human Papillomavirus Awareness and Adolescent Health. Accounting For Vaccine depriva
Problem and Significance: The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine represents one of the most important mechanisms in the prevention of cervical cancer prevention yet, recent data suggest that female adolescents especially those from minority backgrounds, are not receiving the recommended immunizations .In the United States, although HPV vaccine can prevent up to 70% of cervical cancer, it remains the sixth most common cancer among African American and Hispanic women and the 13th most common among Caucasian women. Purpose: The objective of this pilot study was to increase awareness about HPV disease, prevention, and vaccination opportunities and programs among a group of Hispanic parents at a large suburban high school and to answer one Research question: Will the participants demographic characteristics of gender, education, age, internet use, church attendance, employment, insurance enrollment, and parental status, influence knowledge or change opinions after conducting an HPV educational intervention? Methods: A quasi-experimental design pilot study, using a convenience sample of 30 participants, consisted of a two 40 minutes educational classes about HPV disease, prevention, and vaccination. Starting with a pre-test and the demographic information and ending with a post-test. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) HPV 21 item true and false questionnaire was used pre-post to evaluate the effect of the intervention. Data Analysis: Paired t test were used to measure difference between scores before and after intervention. Chi-square to measure the existence of a relationship between total scores before intervention and each variable.
Results: The 30 Hispanic who consented to participate in the HPV educational intervention completed the pilot study. The mean age of the participants was 41years
( SD= 5.43) with a range of 33 to 66 years old. Of the group 20 were female (67%) and 10 (33%) were males. Almost half (57%) reported having medical insurance and 40% reported having a 10th grade level education. Only 5 (17%) reported having 12th grade education. A paired t-test found that there was a significant increase in parent’s knowledge after the intervention (M=11.73, SD = 3.61versus M=15.53, SD=3.19), t -431=, P = < .05. The only parental characteristics that were related to knowledge after the intervention were education and the child’s gender. Implications for Practice: This 2- 40 minutes culturally sensitive educational intervention about Awareness and knowledge regarding HPV disease, prevention, and vaccination was successful in improving parents’ knowledge with intention to vaccinate their adolescents.