Abraham Degarege1, Karl Krupp2, Kristopher Fennie3, Vijaya Srinivas4, Tan Li5, Dionne P Stephens6, Laura A V Marlow7, Anjali Arun4, Purnima Madhivanan8. 1. Department of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, Florida; Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 2. Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, Florida; Public Health Research Institute of India, Mysore, India. 3. Department of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, Florida. 4. Public Health Research Institute of India, Mysore, India. 5. Department of Biostatistics, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, Florida. 6. Department of Psychology, College of Arts, Sciences and Education, Florida International University, Miami, Florida. 7. Health Behavior Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom. 8. Department of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, Florida; Public Health Research Institute of India, Mysore, India. Electronic address: pmadhiva@fiu.edu.
Abstract
STUDY OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine factors predicting human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine acceptability among parents of adolescent girls in a rural area in Mysore district, India. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: Mysore, India. PARTICIPANTS: Parents of school-going adolescent girls. INTERVENTIONS: Parents completed a validated self-administered questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Parental willingness to vaccinate their daughters with HPV vaccine. RESULTS: Of the 831 parents who participated in this study, 664 (79.9%) were willing to vaccinate their daughter with HPV vaccine sometime soon if they were invited to receive it. Higher odds of parental willingness to vaccinate their daughters with HPV vaccine was observed among those who believed that HPV vaccine is safe (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.11; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-4.45); their daughter might become sexually active (aOR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.08-3.13); they have support of other family members to vaccinate their daughter (aOR, 2.86; 95% CI, 1.47-5.57); and that HPV infection causes severe health problems (aOR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.04-2.57). In contrast, parents who believed that there is low risk that their daughter will get cervical cancer (aOR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.29-0.95); that the family will disapprove of getting their daughter vaccinated (aOR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.22-0.76); that the injection might cause pain (aOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.31-0.89), and were older-age parents (aOR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.93-0.99) had lower odds of willingness to vaccinate daughters with HPV vaccine. CONCLUSION: Acceptance of HPV vaccination for daughters was high among rural parents in Mysore, India. However, health education to reduce the belief that injection is painful and that daughters are at low risk to get cervical cancer is important to further improve parental HPV vaccine acceptability in Mysore. Public health education should target older-aged parents and extended family members.
STUDY OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine factors predicting human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine acceptability among parents of adolescent girls in a rural area in Mysore district, India. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SETTING: Mysore, India. PARTICIPANTS: Parents of school-going adolescent girls. INTERVENTIONS: Parents completed a validated self-administered questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Parental willingness to vaccinate their daughters with HPV vaccine. RESULTS: Of the 831 parents who participated in this study, 664 (79.9%) were willing to vaccinate their daughter with HPV vaccine sometime soon if they were invited to receive it. Higher odds of parental willingness to vaccinate their daughters with HPV vaccine was observed among those who believed that HPV vaccine is safe (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.11; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01-4.45); their daughter might become sexually active (aOR, 1.84; 95% CI, 1.08-3.13); they have support of other family members to vaccinate their daughter (aOR, 2.86; 95% CI, 1.47-5.57); and that HPV infection causes severe health problems (aOR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.04-2.57). In contrast, parents who believed that there is low risk that their daughter will get cervical cancer (aOR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.29-0.95); that the family will disapprove of getting their daughter vaccinated (aOR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.22-0.76); that the injection might cause pain (aOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.31-0.89), and were older-age parents (aOR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.93-0.99) had lower odds of willingness to vaccinate daughters with HPV vaccine. CONCLUSION: Acceptance of HPV vaccination for daughters was high among rural parents in Mysore, India. However, health education to reduce the belief that injection is painful and that daughters are at low risk to get cervical cancer is important to further improve parental HPV vaccine acceptability in Mysore. Public health education should target older-aged parents and extended family members.