Recommending HPV vaccination at age 9 to reduce health disparities: Communication challenges and opportunities.

The HPV vaccine is approved for children as young as age nine and recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices routinely for ages 11-12. However, many U.S. adolescents do not complete the vaccine series until middle to late adolescence, if at all, leaving them vulnerable to future HPV infection and attributable cancers. Health disparities exist for both vaccination coverage and most HPV-associated cancers. A strategy for improving vaccination rates for all populations and reducing disparate gaps in protection and health disparities from HPV-associated cancers is to shift the routine recommendation to an earlier age, that is, to start the vaccine series at age nine instead of ages 11-12. Challenges, opportunities, and suggestions for communicating this recommendation are outlined alongside considerations of social determinants of health.

A Social Identity Threat Perspective on Why Partisans May Engage in Greater Victim Blaming and Sexual Assault Myth Acceptance in the #MeToo Era.

This study examined how U.S. partisans (N = 1,154) may engage in greater victim blaming and sexual assault myth acceptance to defend their political identities in the #MeToo era. The more Republicans and Democrats identified with being a member of their political party and reported feeling defensive when members from their political party are criticized, the more accepting they were of common sexual assault myths and thus the less likely they were to perceive sexual assault as a serious issue in need of addressing and the #MeToo movement as having a positive impact in the United States.

A systematic literature review to examine the potential for social media to impact HPV vaccine uptake and awareness, knowledge, and attitudes about HPV and HPV vaccination.

This article summarizes the findings from a systematic literature review to examine how social media may impact HPV vaccine uptake and HPV and HPV vaccine related awareness, knowledge, and attitudes. Study inclusion criteria was original data collection of at least one data point about social media and HPV and/or HPV vaccination, such that the study provided insight into how social media content may influence HPV and HPV vaccine related knowledge, attitudes, and/or behaviors. A total of 44 relevant articles were identified using the following databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, Communication Source, Sociological Abstracts, Business Source Elite, and the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC). Most studies analyzed the valence, type, and frequency of social media content about HPV vaccination, and some found associations between potential exposure to negative, anti-vacc`11qine content and lower vaccination rates. Some studies that included primary human subject data collection found that engagement with HPV related social media content was associated with improved awareness and knowledge but not with increased vaccine uptake. The literature overall is lacking in systematic and rigorous research examining the effects of social media on HPV related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors and needs further examination as social media increasingly becomes a source of health information.

Development and Evaluation of a Social Media Health Intervention to Improve Adolescents' Knowledge About and Vaccination Against the Human Papillomavirus.

This study describes the formative research, execution, and evaluation of a social media health intervention to improve adolescents' knowledge about and vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV). Based on the results from formative focus groups with adolescents (N = 38) to determine intervention feasibility, parameters, and message preferences, we developed and conducted a pretest/posttest evaluation of a 3-month social media health intervention for adolescents who had not completed the HPV vaccine series (N = 108). Results revealed that adolescents who fully engaged with the intervention improved in their knowledge compared with a control group, and many were also likely to have interpersonal discussions with others about what they learned. Adolescents are generally interested in receiving information about HPV and the vaccine, along with other relevant health information, through social media channels if messages are considered interesting, their privacy is protected, and the source is credible.

The Role of Hypermasculinity, Token Resistance, Rape Myth, and Assertive Sexual Consent Communication Among College Men.

PURPOSE: A greater understanding of how college men's gendered beliefs and communication styles relate to their sexual consent attitudes and intentions is essential within the shifting context of negative to affirmative consent policies on college campuses. The results of this study can be used to help design more effective sexual consent interventions. METHODS: Three hundred seventy undergraduate college men completed cross-sectional online surveys. Hierarchical multiple regression examined how hypermasculinity, token resistance, rape myth acceptance, and sexual communication assertiveness were associated with consent-related attitudes, intentions, and interpretations. RESULTS: Bivariate correlations among all variables were significant. In multivariate analyses, sexual communication assertiveness was positively associated with all consent outcomes, and token resistance and rape myth acceptance were negatively associated with some. Hypermasculinity was not a significant factor. CONCLUSIONS: Programs seeking to improve sexual consent communication among college men should reduce destructive beliefs and encourage sexually assertive communication.

Unblurring the lines of sexual consent with a college student-driven sexual consent education campaign.

OBJECTIVE: To test the effectiveness of a college student-driven sexual consent education campaign to improve college students' sexual consent understanding. PARTICIPANTS: Undergraduate students (N = 992) at a large, public Midwestern university between March and December 2015. METHODS: Three online survey questionnaires assessing relevant outcome measures were distributed to the university's undergraduate student population before, during, and after the campaign's implementation over two consecutive academic semesters. RESULTS: Exposure to the campaign and the sexual consent understanding of the student population improved over time. College men and members of university-affiliated social sororities or fraternities resulted in greater improvement than their respective counterparts (i.e., college women, nonmembers). CONCLUSIONS: Sexual consent education campaigns for college students that are student-driven and address relevant sociocultural factors while authentically interacting with students can improve students' sexual consent understanding. These type of campaigns also have the opportunity to reach historically hard-to-reach audiences, such as college men.

Partnering with middle school students to design text messages about HPV vaccination.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is routinely recommended for U.S. adolescents ages 11 to 12 years, yet vaccine coverage remains low. Text message HPV immunization reminders to parents have been effective with increasing uptake, but text messages directly to adolescents in order to increase HPV vaccination uptake are unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the acceptability of text messages about HPV vaccination and message preferences among adolescents. Middle school students (n = 43) assisted in designing text messages to promote HPV vaccine among their peers. Through seven focus groups and two in-class surveys, we assessed students' knowledge of HPV vaccine, use of texting, and preferences for text messages and sources. The average age of participants was 13 years, and all were White (17 males, 26 females) in this rural setting. More than 70% used text messaging with a cell phone. The text message with the best composite score (M = 2.33, SD = 0.72) for likeability, trustworthiness, and motivation to seek more information was a gain frame emphasizing reduction in HPV infection if vaccinated against HPV. Text messages with lower scores emphasized threats of disease if not vaccinated. Participants (68%) preferred doctors as their information source. Text messaging to adolescents may be a strategy to improve HPV knowledge and vaccination.

"Love is all you need" A content analysis of romantic love and sex in Chinese entertainment television.

A large sample of entertainment television programs that aired on 28 channels in China in 2004 were analyzed for romantic and sexual content. Romantic scenes, typically portraying men and women already in committed relationships, appeared in 80 percent of the 196 programs analyzed. The analysis suggested that, according to Chinese television in the early part of the 21st Century, emotional love was more important than physical sexual interaction in romantic relationships. More than half of the 1,112 romantic scenes analyzed depicted love between the partners without any discussion or display of physical sexual behavior. Only eight percent of scenes included discussion or depiction of sexual behavior (e.g., touching, kissing, intercourse) without some sense that the partners were in a loving, committed relationship. Sexual intercourse was implied or depicted in fewer than two percent of the romantic scenes. Findings are discussed in light of the Chinese government's periodic regulation of sexually suggestive media content and attempts to filter Internet content. The extent to which such content may affect young viewers' perceptions of romantic relationships and sexual behavior is also discussed.