BACKGROUND
Parents play a critical decision-making role in vaccinating their age-eligible adolescent children against HPV. Despite evidence indicating that Latino adolescents have higher HPV vaccination rates than non-Hispanic whites, uptake of the HPV vaccine remains lower than the 80% goal set by the Healthy People 2020. Moreover, studies suggest that Latino adolescent males have lower rates of HPV vaccination than Latina adolescent females.
OBJECTIVE
Given the importance of the HPV vaccination as a cancer prevention strategy and the unique decision-making role parents play in vaccinating their children, this study was designed to explore Latina mothers’: (1) acceptance of the HPV vaccine, and (2) suggested strategies to promote vaccine uptake among Latino parents and their adolescent children.
METHODS
A descriptive qualitative research employing individual semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using a hybrid method of thematic analysis that incorporated deductive and inductive approaches.
RESULTS
Twenty-two, majority foreign-born (91%; n = 20) Latina mothers of adolescent girls (~ 60%; n = 23) and boys (~ 40%; n = 15) aged between 11 and 19 years (mean age of adolescents: 15.3 years) participated in the study. Results revealed mothers’ high acceptance of the HPV vaccine for their daughters and their positive beliefs about the direct benefits of the vaccine to protect their daughters’ health by preventing STI and future cervical cancer risk. Such positive beliefs influenced mothers’ high uptake and initiation of the vaccine for their daughters. In contrast, study findings revealed mothers’ low acceptance and uptake of the vaccine for their sons. Our findings showed that the majority of mothers did not perceiving HPV infection as a major risk to their sons’ health, and therefore, did not perceive direct health benefits of the HPV vaccine for their sons as they did for their daughters (i.e., prevention of cervical cancer).
CONCLUSIONS
Findings identified the need for increased efforts to raise awareness and knowledge among Latino parents of the direct benefits of the vaccine for their sons and the cancer prevention benefits of the vaccine for HPV-associated cancers that affect not only females but also males. Finally, findings underscore the need for improved healthcare providers' communication and recommendation of the HPV vaccine for Latino adolescent males. Future research should intervene upon findings identified in this study in order to address barriers that remain and affect Latino parents’ acceptance and uptake of the HPV vaccine for their children, and in particular, for their sons.
CLINICALTRIAL
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Developing a Bilingual, Computer-Tailored, HPV Vaccination Promotion Intervention Targeting Latino Parents