Regional differences in provider recommendation of HPV vaccines among 13-to-17 year old adolescents from 2019 to 2021.

PURPOSE: The prevalence of recommendation of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination by health care providers has improved over the last decade. However, research to determine whether the COVID-19 pandemic affected the progress in recommendation among adolescents across the U.S. regions has been limited. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine if region was associated with provider recommendation of HPV vaccines in 2019-2021 and whether changes in recommendations varied by region. METHOD: Using a cross-sectional design to examine National Immunization Survey-Teen (2019-2021) data, logistic regression and moderation analyses were performed to model region variation in HPV vaccine recommendations (n = 50,739 respondents). RESULTS: The odds of recommendation were higher in the Midwest (aOR, 1.17 [95% CI, 1.06-1.29]), and Northeast (aOR, 1.38 [95% CI, 1.23-1.56]) regions than in the South region. Also, the odds of provider recommendation were higher in 2020 (aOR,1.16 [95% CI, 1.03-1.30]) than in 2019. Other variables-sex, age, race/ethnicity, health insurance status, and poverty status-were associated with recommendation of HPV vaccination. CONCLUSION: Although the improvement in recommendation from 2019 to 2020 is an important public health gain, recommendation in the South still lags behind that in other regions. More efforts are needed to improve HPV vaccination recommendations in this region.

Effect of an HPV Vaccination Multi-Level, Multi-Component Program on HPV Vaccination Initiation and Completion in a Pediatric Clinic Network.

Despite clear evidence of the public health benefits of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in preventing HPV-related cancers and genital warts, underutilization of HPV vaccination in the United States persists. Interventions targeting multi-level determinants of vaccination behavior are crucial for improving HPV vaccination rates. The study's purpose was to implement and evaluate the adapted Adolescent Vaccination Program (AVP), a clinic-based, multi-level, multi-component intervention aimed at increasing HPV vaccine initiation and completion rates in a five-clinic pediatric network in Bexar County, Texas. The adaptation process was guided by established frameworks and involved formative work with clinic stakeholders. The study utilized a quasi-experimental single group pre- and post- study design, with an external comparison data using the National Immunization Survey-Teen (NIS-Teen) datasets for the same time period to examine the AVP's effect on HPV vaccination initiation and completion. A series of interrupted time series analyses (ITSA) compared the clinic system patient outcomes (HPV vaccination initiation and completion rates) in the post-intervention to the general adolescent population (NIS-Teen). Of the 6438 patients (11-17 years) with clinic visits during the 3-year study period, HPV vaccination initiation rates increased from 64.7% to 80.2% (p < 0.05) and completion rates increased from 43.2% to 60.2% (p < 0.05). The AVP was effective across various demographic and economic subgroups, demonstrating its generalizability. ITSA findings indicated the AVP improved HPV vaccination initiation and completion rates in clinic settings and that AVP strategies facilitated resilience during the pandemic. The minimal adaptation required for implementation in a new clinic system underscores its feasibility and potential for widespread adoption.

A Multivariate Probit Regression of the Uptake of Adolescent Vaccines Among Racial/Ethnic Minority Adolescents Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

PURPOSE: The uptake of adolescent vaccines has improved over the years. However, research of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on this uptake among racial/ethnic minority adolescents has been limited. This study was conducted to compare the probability of uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV); tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap); and quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate (MenACWY) vaccines among racial/ethnic minority adolescents ages 13-17 years in 2019, 2020, and 2021. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional design to examine data from the National Immunization Survey-Teen (2019-2021), multivariate probit regression was used to model variation in uptake of these three adolescent vaccines (n = 38,128). The outcome measures were HPV, Tdap, and MenACWY vaccine uptake. RESULTS: The probability of uptake of HPV vaccine was higher in 2020 (Coef = 0.09 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.03-0.16]) and 2021 (Coef = 0.07 [95% CI, 0.00-0.15]) than in 2019. The probability of uptake of MenACWY vaccine was higher in 2020 (Coef = 0.08 [95% CI, 0.02-0.15]) than in 2019. The probability of uptake of recommended vaccines varied among racial/ethnic minorities with non-Hispanic Black adolescents exhibiting higher probability of uptake of HPV vaccine (Coef = 0.10 [95% CI, 0.01-0.19]) than Tdap vaccine. U.S. Census region and insurance status were associated with the uptake of all recommended vaccines. DISCUSSION: Progress in the uptake of these recommended vaccines may not have been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, disparities in uptake of the recommended vaccines still exist despite increased uptake during the pandemic. Future research should examine the disparities as well as examine regional differences in the uptake of these three adolescent vaccines.

The prevalence of human papillomavirus vaccination among racial and ethnic minority adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among adolescents has steadily improved over the past several years. However, research conducted to determine whether the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this positive trend in HPV vaccine initiation among racial and ethnic minority adolescents is limited. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine if the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting changes in the US health-care sector affected the increasing HPV vaccine initiation among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic adolescents aged 13-17 years. METHODS: Using a cross-sectional design to examine data from the National Immunization Survey-Teen (2019-2021), logistic regression and moderation analysis were used to model race-specific variations in HPV vaccine initiation (n = 49 031). Two-sided P values of up to .05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Hispanic (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.16 to 1.57) and non-Hispanic Black (AOR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.10 to 1.51) adolescents had higher odds of HPV vaccine initiation than did non-Hispanic White adolescents. Additionally, the odds of HPV vaccine initiation were higher in 2021 (AOR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.08 to 1.38) than in 2019. Other variables-age, region, sex, insurance status, and poverty status-were also associated with HPV vaccine initiation. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that during the COVID-19 pandemic, racial and ethnic minorities had higher odds of receiving the HPV vaccine. Therefore, more research of the impact of the pandemic on HPV vaccine initiation among non-Hispanic White and racial and ethnic minority adolescents is needed.

Adaptation and Formative Evaluation of Online Decision Support to Implement Evidence-Based Strategies to Increase HPV Vaccination Rates in Pediatric Clinics.

Human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination rates remain below national goals in the United States despite the availability of evidence-based strategies to increase rates. The Adolescent Vaccination Program (AVP) is a multi-component intervention demonstrated to increase HPV vaccination rates in pediatric clinics through the implementation of six evidence-based strategies. The purpose of this study, conducted in Houston, Texas, from 2019-2021, was to adapt the AVP into an online decision support implementation tool for standalone use and to evaluate its feasibility for use in community clinics. Phase 1 (Adaptation) comprised clinic interviews (n = 23), literature review, Adolescent Vaccination Program Implementation Tool (AVP-IT) design documentation, and AVP-IT development. Phase 2 (Evaluation) comprised usability testing with healthcare providers (HCPs) (n = 5) and feasibility testing in community-based clinics (n = 2). AVP-IT decision support provides an Action Plan with tailored guidance on implementing six evidence-based strategies (immunization champions, assessment and feedback, continuing education, provider prompts, parent reminders, and parent education). HCPs rated the AVP-IT as acceptable, credible, easy, helpful, impactful, and appealing (≥80% agreement). They rated AVP-IT supported implementation as easier and more effective compared to usual practice (p ≤ 0.05). The clinic-based AVP-IT uses facilitated strategy implementation by 3-month follow-up. The AVP-IT promises accessible, utilitarian, and scalable decision support on strategies to increase HPV vaccination rates in pediatric clinic settings. Further feasibility and efficacy testing is indicated.

Parents' stigmatizing beliefs about the HPV vaccine and their association with information seeking behavior and vaccination communication behaviors.

Parents' stigmatizing beliefs about the HPV vaccine, such as beliefs that it promotes adolescent sexual activity, constitute a notable barrier to vaccine uptake. The purpose of this study is to describe the associations between parents' stigmatizing beliefs about the HPV vaccine, psychosocial antecedents to vaccination, and parents' intentions to vaccinate their children. Parents of vaccine-eligible children (n = 512) were surveyed in a large urban clinical network. Results indicate that two stigmatizing beliefs were significantly associated with self-efficacy in talking with a doctor about the HPV vaccine. Believing that the vaccine would make a child more likely to have sex was associated with citing social media as a source of information about the vaccine. Other stigmatizing beliefs were either associated with citing healthcare professionals as sources of information about the vaccine, or they were not significantly associated with any information source. This finding suggests that stigmatizing beliefs might discourage parents from seeking out information about the vaccine. This study is significant because it further highlights the importance of doctor recommendations to all patients at recommended ages; doctor visits may represent one of the few opportunities to normalize HPV vaccination and address parents' stigmatizing beliefs about the HPV vaccine.

Lessons Learned From Interdisciplinary Efforts to Combat COVID-19 Misinformation: Development of Agile Integrative Methods From Behavioral Science, Data Science, and Implementation Science.

Background: Despite increasing awareness about and advances in addressing social media misinformation, the free flow of false COVID-19 information has continued, affecting individuals' preventive behaviors, including masking, testing, and vaccine uptake. Objective: In this paper, we describe our multidisciplinary efforts with a specific focus on methods to (1) gather community needs, (2) develop interventions, and (3) conduct large-scale agile and rapid community assessments to examine and combat COVID-19 misinformation. Methods: We used the Intervention Mapping framework to perform community needs assessment and develop theory-informed interventions. To supplement these rapid and responsive efforts through large-scale online social listening, we developed a novel methodological framework, comprising qualitative inquiry, computational methods, and quantitative network models to analyze publicly available social media data sets to model content-specific misinformation dynamics and guide content tailoring efforts. As part of community needs assessment, we conducted 11 semistructured interviews, 4 listening sessions, and 3 focus groups with community scientists. Further, we used our data repository with 416,927 COVID-19 social media posts to gather information diffusion patterns through digital channels. Results: Our results from community needs assessment revealed the complex intertwining of personal, cultural, and social influences of misinformation on individual behaviors and engagement. Our social media interventions resulted in limited community engagement and indicated the need for consumer advocacy and influencer recruitment. The linking of theoretical constructs underlying health behaviors to COVID-19-related social media interactions through semantic and syntactic features using our computational models has revealed frequent interaction typologies in factual and misleading COVID-19 posts and indicated significant differences in network metrics such as degree. The performance of our deep learning classifiers was reasonable, with an F-measure of 0.80 for speech acts and 0.81 for behavior constructs. Conclusions: Our study highlights the strengths of community-based field studies and emphasizes the utility of large-scale social media data sets in enabling rapid intervention tailoring to adapt grassroots community interventions to thwart misinformation seeding and spread among minority communities. Implications for consumer advocacy, data governance, and industry incentives are discussed for the sustainable role of social media solutions in public health.

Using Implementation Mapping to increase uptake and use of Salud en Mis Manos: A breast and cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination intervention for Latinas.

Background: Despite CDC recommendations for breast and cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination, cancer control behaviors are underutilized among low-income Latinas. Salud en Mis Manos (SEMM), adapted from Cultivando La Salud, is a community health worker- (CHW-) delivered evidence-based intervention (EBI), shown to increase breast and cervical cancer screening. Methods: We used Implementation Mapping to create SEMM-Dissemination and Implementation Assistance (SEMM-DIA), a set of implementation strategies designed to support implementation and maintenance of SEMM in clinic settings. Specifically, we used Implementation Mapping's five iterative tasks to guide the use of theories and frameworks, evidence, new data, and stakeholder input to develop strategies to accelerate and improve implementation fidelity, reach, and maintenance of the SEMM intervention. The resulting implementation mapping logic model also guides the SEMM-DIA evaluation plan to assess reach, effectiveness, implementation, and maintenance. Discussion: Increased use of implementation planning frameworks is necessary to accelerate the translation of EBIs to public health practice. This work demonstrates the application of Implementation Mapping to develop SEMM-DIA, providing a model for the development of other implementation strategies to support translation of evidence-based health promotion interventions into clinic settings.

AVPCancerFree: Impact of a digital behavior change intervention on parental HPV vaccine -related perceptions and behaviors.

Parent hesitancy contributes to reduced HPV vaccination rates. The HPVcancerfree app (HPVCF) was designed to assist parents in making evidence-based decisions regarding HPV vaccination. This study examined if parents of vaccine-eligible youth (11-12 yrs.) who use HPVCF in addition to usual care demonstrate significantly more positive intentions and attitudes toward HPV vaccination and greater HPV vaccination rates compared to those not using HPVCF. Clinics (n = 51) within a large urban pediatric network were randomly assigned to treatment (HPVCF + usual care) or comparison (usual care only) conditions in a RCT conducted between September 2017 and February 2019. Parents completed baseline and 5-month follow-up surveys. Participant-level analysis determined 1) change in HPV vaccination initiation behavior and related psychosocial determinants and 2) predictors of HPV vaccine initiation. Parents (n = 375) who completed baseline and 5-month follow-up surveys were female (95.2%), 40.8 (±5.8) yrs. married (83.7%), employed (68.3%), college educated (61.9%), and privately insured (76.5%). Between-group analysis of HPVCF efficacy demonstrated that parents assigned to receive HPVCF significantly increased knowledge about HPV and HPV vaccination (p < .05). Parents who accessed content within HPVCF significantly increased knowledge about HPV & HPV vaccine (p < .01) and perceived effectiveness of HPV vaccine (p < .05). Change in HPV vaccine initiation was not significant. A multivariate model to describe predictors of HPV vaccine initiation demonstrated an association with Tdap and MCV vaccination adoption, positive change in perceived effectiveness of the HPV vaccine, and reduction in perceived barriers against HPV vaccination. HPVCF appears to be a feasible adjunct to the education received in usual care visits and reinforces the value of apps to support the important persuasive voice of the health-care provider in overcoming parent HPV vaccine hesitancy.

Parent Engagement with a Self-Tailored Cancer Prevention Digital Behavior Change Intervention: Exploratory Application of Affiliation Network Analysis.

Evaluating digital behavior change intervention engagement is complex and requires multidimensional and novel approaches that are emerging. The relationship and interdependence between engagement with the technology and engagement with the psychosocial or behavior change process often presents conceptual and evaluative challenges. Large objective data sets detailing technology use are plentiful but meaningful interpretation can be challenging at granular levels. Affiliation network analysis which describes two-mode network data may provide a novel approach to evaluate engagement of digital behavior change interventions. The purpose of this paper is to use affiliation network analysis as an exploratory method to describe, assess and visualize content-specific patterns underlying psychosocial characteristics related to HPV vaccine safety concerns of parents using the HPVcancerFree intervention. Results indicate that affiliation network analysis shows promise in supplementing existing methods to assess engagement of digital interventions.

Evaluation of a 2-1-1 Telephone Navigation Program to Increase Cancer Control Behaviors: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of a telephone navigation intervention for increasing use of cancer control services among underserved 2-1-1 callers. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. SETTING: 2-1-1 call centers in Houston and Weslaco, Texas (located in the Rio Grande Valley near the Mexican border). PARTICIPANTS: 2-1-1 callers in need of Pap test, mammography, colorectal cancer screening, smoking cessation counseling, and/or HPV vaccination for a daughter (n = 1,554). A majority were low-income and described themselves as Black or Hispanic. INTERVENTION: Participants were randomly assigned to receive either a cancer control referral for the needed service(s) with telephone navigation from a trained cancer control navigator (n = 995) or a referral only (n = 559). MEASURES: Uptake of each individual service and any needed service. ANALYSIS: Assessed uptake in both groups using bivariate chi-square analyses and multivariable logistic regression analyses, adjusted for sociodemographic covariates. Both per-protocol and intent-to-treat approaches were used. RESULTS: Both interventions increased cancer control behaviors. Referral with navigation intervention resulted in significantly greater completion of any needed service (OR = 1.38; p = .042), Pap test (OR = 1.56; p = .023), and smoking cessation counseling (OR = 2.66; p = .044), than referral-only condition. Other outcomes showed the same trend although the difference was not statistically significant: mammography (OR = 1.53; p = .106); colorectal cancer screening (OR = 1.80; p = .095); and HPV vaccination of a daughter (OR = 1.61; p = .331). CONCLUSION: Adding cancer control referrals and navigation to an informational service like the 2-1-1 program can increase overall participation in cancer control services.

Medical ethics principles underscore advocating for human papillomavirus vaccine.

Studies have consistently shown that vaccination rates against human papillomavirus (HPV) lag far behind other adolescent vaccinations recommended at the same age, resulting in exposing adolescents to unnecessary future risk of infection, and genital and head and neck cancers. Studies also have demonstrated that a major barrier to vaccination is lack of a strong provider recommendation. Factors that providers offer for failing to give a strong recommendation range from perception that the child is not at risk or the need to explain that the vaccine is not mandated (lack of equity and justice) or respect for parental autonomy. We look at the issue through a different lens, and reframe the above viewpoint by describing how failing to make a strong recommendation means the provider is not meeting the four principles of medical ethics (justice, beneficence, non-maleficence and autonomy).

Parents' Experience With a Mobile Health Intervention to Influence Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Decision Making: Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV)-attributed cancers are preventable, yet HPV vaccination rates severely lag behind other adolescent vaccinations. HPVcancerFree (HPVCF) is a mobile health (mHealth) intervention developed to influence parental HPV vaccination decision making by raising awareness of HPV, reducing HPV vaccination barriers, and enabling HPV vaccination scheduling and reminders through a smartphone app. Evaluating the user experience of mHealth interventions is a vital component in assessing their quality and success but tends to be underreported in mHealth intervention evaluation. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate the user experience of HPVCF, an HPV cancer prevention app designed for a pediatric clinic network, using mixed methods data collected from log files, survey measures, and qualitative feedback. METHODS: Study data were evaluated from parents in a large US pediatric clinic network using HPVCF in the treatment study condition of a group randomized controlled trial. Log data captured HPVCF retention and use. Postintervention rating scales and items assessed HPVCF utility, usefulness, understandability, appeal, credibility, and perceived impact. Overall quality was evaluated using the user version of the Mobile Application Rating Scale (uMars). Open-ended responses assessed parent recommendations for HPVCF enhancement. RESULTS: The 98 parents were mainly female (n=94, 96%), 41 (5.67) years of age, college educated (n=55, 56%), and White and non-Hispanic (n=55, 56%) and had private health insurance for their children (n=75, 77%). Parents used HPVCF 197 times, with the average visit duration approximating 3.5 minutes. The uMARS app quality score was positively skewed (4.2/5.0). Mean ratings were highest for information (4.46 [SD 0.53]) and lowest for engagement (3.74 [SD 0.69]). In addition, of 95 parents, 45 (47%) rated HPVCF as helpful in HPV vaccination decision making and 16 (17%) attributed HPV vaccine initiation to HPVCF. Parents reported that HPVCF increased their awareness (84/95, 88%), knowledge (84/95, 88%), and HPV vaccination intentions (64/95, 67%). Most of the 98 parents rated the 4 HPVCF components as useful (72-92 [73%-94%]). Parents also agreed that HPVCF is clear (86/95, 91%), accurate (86/95, 91%), and more helpful than other HPV vaccine information they had received (89/95, 94%) and that they would recommend it to others (81/95, 85%). In addition, parents suggested ways to increase awareness and engagement with the app, along with opportunities to enhance the content and functionality. CONCLUSIONS: HPVCF was well received by parents and performed well on indicators of quality, usefulness, utility, credibility, and perceived impact. This study contributes a multimethod and multimeasure evaluation to the growing body of literature focused on assessing the user experience of patient-focused technology-mediated applications for HPV education.

Using Community-Academic Partnerships and a Creative Expression Contest to Engage Youth in the Development of Communication Materials for Promoting Behaviors That Prevent COVID-19.

Youth can transmit COVID-19 to adults, but few communication materials exist for engaging youth in COVID-19 prevention behaviors. We describe the process of leveraging a community-academic partnership in a rapid response initiative to engage youth in a contest (i.e., Youth-Led Creative Expression Contest to Prevent COVID-19 across Texas) to develop creative public health messaging centered on the prevention of COVID-19 transmission and infection for their peers. Core activities included developing a request for applications that solicited submission of creative expression materials promoting the use of COVID-19 prevention behaviors (mask-wearing, social distancing, handwashing, not touching the face) from Texas youth in elementary, middle, and/or high school; sending the request for applications to 48 organizations in Austin, Brownsville, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, and San Antonio in summer 2020; and recruiting a youth advisory board to score submissions and award prizes. We report on youth engagement in the COVID communication contest across Texas and use statistics (chi-square and t-tests) to characterize and compare youth participants and their creative expression artwork. The contest resulted in 3,003 website views and 34 submissions eligible for scoring. Each submission averaged >2 prevention behaviors. On average, winning submissions included a higher number of prevention behaviors than nonwinning submissions. The prevention behavior "not touching the face" was included more often in winning submissions than nonwinning submissions. Elementary school children were less likely to include a mask in their submission compared with older youth. Existing community-academic networks can engage youth in the development of geographically and age-tailored communication materials.

Using Implementation Mapping to Develop Implementation Strategies for the Delivery of a Cancer Prevention and Control Phone Navigation Program: A Collaboration With 2-1-1.

Cancer prevention and control (CPC) behaviors, such as cancer screening, human papillomavirus vaccination, and smoking cessation, are critical public health issues. Evidence-based interventions have been identified to improve the uptake of CPC behaviors; however, they are often inconsistently implemented, affecting their reach and effectiveness. Patient navigation is an evidence-based approach to increasing CPC behaviors. Nevertheless, there are few navigation programs that use systematically developed implementation strategies to facilitate adoption, implementation, and maintenance, which affects uptake and outcomes. This article describes the development of a multifaceted implementation strategy designed to facilitate delivery of a CPC phone navigation program to increase breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening; human papillomavirus vaccination; and smoking cessation among 2-1-1 Texas helpline callers. Using implementation mapping, a systematic approach for developing implementation strategies, we designed a strategy that involved training 2-1-1 information specialists to deliver the program, developed online tracking and quality-monitoring (audit and feedback) systems, and developed and distributed protocols and other materials to support training and implementation. Through this iterative process and our collaboration with 2-1-1 Texas call centers, our project resulted in a comprehensive training program with a robust curriculum of pertinent program content, for which we identified core components and appropriate delivery modes that are culturally relevant to the population. The results of this study can be applied to the development of more systematic, transparent, and replicable processes for designing implementation strategies. The study also demonstrates a process that can be applied to other contexts and other CPC program implementation efforts.

Informing Content and Feature Design of a Parent-Focused Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Digital Behavior Change Intervention: Synchronous Text-Based Focus Group Study.

BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common and preventable sexually transmitted infection; however, vaccination rates in the United States among the target age group, which is 11-12 years, are lower than national goals. Interventions that address the barriers to and facilitators of vaccination are important for improving HPV vaccination rates. Web-based, text-based focus groups are becoming a promising method that may be well suited for conducting formative research to inform the design of digital behavior change intervention (DBCI) content and features that address HPV vaccination decision-making. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore parental HPV vaccination decision-making processes using a web-based, text-based focus group protocol to inform content and feature recommendations for an HPV prevention DBCI. METHODS: We conducted 4 web-based, text-based synchronous focus groups via Skype with the parents of patients aged 11-13 years within a large urban US pediatric clinic network. RESULTS: The 22 parents were mostly female, White, non-Hispanic college graduates, and they mostly had private health insurance for their children. Approximately half (14/25, 56%) of the parents' 11-13 year old children had initiated HPV vaccination. Most parents had experience using Skype (19/22, 86%). Approximately half (8/17, 47%) of parents expressed no preference for the focus group format, whereas 47% (8/17) requested a text-only chat format and 6% (1/17) requested an audiovisual format. The three main themes from the qualitative data were barriers to HPV vaccination, facilitators of HPV vaccination, and suggestions for improving the HPV vaccination clinic experience. A total of 11 intervention content and feature recommendations emerged from the themes, including addressing HPV knowledge barriers using trusted sources, designing for a family audience, focusing on the framing of messages, reporting reputable HPV research in a comprehensible format, and expanding the clinic visit experience. CONCLUSIONS: Synchronous text-based focus groups are feasible for conducting formative research on HPV vaccination decision-making. Among well-educated and well-resourced parents, there are barriers such as misinformation and facilitators such as pediatrician recommendations that influence HPV vaccination decision-making. Parents want to conduct their own HPV research as well as receive relevant HPV vaccination advice from their child's pediatrician. In addition, parents want an enhanced clinic visit experience that lets them access and connect to tailored information before and after clinic visits. The results gathered provide guidance for content and features that may inform a more responsive DBCI to address HPV vaccination decision-making among parents.

A lay health worker intervention to improve breast and cervical cancer screening among Latinas in El Paso, Texas: A randomized control trial.

INTRODUCTION: We examined the effectiveness of a lay health worker (promotora)-delivered intervention on increasing breast and cervical cancer screening among low-income, primarily uninsured Latinas living in El Paso, Texas. METHODS: In 2015, Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening (BCCS) program promotoras recruited Latinas overdue for breast and/or cervical cancer screening in community settings. Promotoras consented eligible women and conducted baseline surveys before individually randomizing women into control (n = 313) or intervention (n = 314) groups. Control participants received printed material providing basic information about breast and cervical cancer screening.Intervention participants received promotora-delivered one-on-one breast and cervical cancer screening education followed by navigation calls, providing assistance to address personal and logistic barriers to accessing clinical services. We assessed breast and cervical cancer screening outcomes using a 6-month follow-up survey. Per protocol (PP) and intent to treat (ITT) analyses are reported. RESULTS: At follow-up, among women in need of breast cancer screening, those in the intervention group were significantly more likely to complete a mammogram than those in the control group (PP: 53.4% vs. 40.1%, p = .013; ITT: 47.9% vs. 35.2%, p = .011). Among women in need of Pap screening, only intervention group women 50 years and older were more likely to complete a Pap screening compared with control group women (PP: 64.5% vs. 43.5%, p = .019). CONCLUSIONS: A promotora-delivered behavioral intervention, embedded in a community-based organization, increased mammography uptake in all women and Pap uptake among women 50 years and older in a sample of low-income Latinas. NCT04397744.

Examining Potential Usability and Health Beliefs Among Young Adults Using a Conversational Agent for HPV Vaccine Counseling.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is the most effective way to prevent HPV-related cancers. Integrating provider vaccine counseling is crucial to improving HPV vaccine completion rates. Automating the counseling experience through a conversational agent could help improve HPV vaccine coverage and reduce the burden of vaccine counseling for providers. In a previous study, we tested a simulated conversational agent that provided HPV vaccine counseling for parents using the Wizard of OZ protocol. In the current study, we assessed the conversational agent among young college adults (n=24), a population that may have missed the HPV vaccine during their adolescence when vaccination is recommended. We also administered surveys for system and voice usability, and for health beliefs concerning the HPV vaccine. Participants perceived the agent to have high usability that is slightly better or equivalent to other voice interactive interfaces, and there is some evidence that the agent impacted their beliefs concerning the harms, uncertainty, and risk denials for the HPV vaccine. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential for conversational agents to be an impactful tool for health promotion endeavors.

Mining HPV Vaccine Knowledge Structures of Young Adults From Reddit Using Distributional Semantics and Pathfinder Networks.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine protects adolescents and young adults from 9 high-risk HPV virus types that cause 90% of cervical and anal cancers and 70% of oropharyngeal cancers. This study extends our previous research analyzing online content concerning the HPV vaccination in social media platforms used by young adults, in which we used Pathfinder network scaling and methods of distributional semantics to characterize differences in knowledge organization reflected in consumer- and expert-generated online content. The current study extends this approach to evaluate HPV vaccine perceptions among young adults who populate Reddit, a major social media platform. We derived Pathfinder networks from estimates of semantic relatedness obtained by learning word embeddings from Reddit posts and compared these to networks derived from human expert estimation of the relationship between key concepts. Results revealed that users of Reddit, predominantly comprising young adults in the vaccine catch up age-group 18 through 26 years of age, perceived the HPV vaccine domain from a virus-framed perspective that could impact their lifestyle choices and that their awareness of the HPV vaccine for cancer prevention is also lacking. Further differences in knowledge structures were elucidated, with implications for future health communication initiatives.