Attitudes and Perceptions of the Human Papillomavirus Vaccine in Caribbean and African American Adolescent boys and Their Parents.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world. The prevalence of HPV in men ranges from 20% to 65% and is high at all ages. HPV vaccine has high efficacy in preventing HPV infection, cervical cancer, and genital warts. The study objectives were to describe attitudes and perceptions toward acceptability of HPV vaccination among inner-city Caribbean and African American adolescent boys and their parents and to identify and discuss correlates that may be associated with these factors. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A cross-sectional survey, administered in a general adolescent medicine clinic. Participants were recruited from a convenience sample of adolescent boys aged 13 to 19 years currently under care at an adolescent medicine clinic. RESULTS: Responses of 101 adolescent boys and 35 parents were analyzed. Consistent condom use was associated with less interest in HPV vaccination; those reporting consistent condom use had an 88% decreased odds of being interested in HPV vaccination compared with those reporting inconsistent condom uses. Interest in receiving the HPV vaccine was significantly associated with having increased numbers of sexual partners. CONCLUSION: Overall, most adolescent males (65%) were interested in receiving the HPV vaccine and a majority believed their parents would allow the vaccination (77.2%). Parental knowledge that the majority of cervical and rectal cancers are caused by HPV increased the odds of parents believing their sons need HPV vaccination; however, it is not statistically significant.

Attitudes and perceptions of the HPV vaccine in Caribbean and African-American adolescent girls and their parents.

OBJECTIVE: To describe attitudes and perceptions toward acceptability of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination among inner city Caribbean (CA) and African American (AA) adolescents and their parents, and discuss correlates that may be associated with these factors. DESIGN: Questionnaire survey. SETTING: An adolescent medicine clinic. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample was recruited of 175 adolescent girls aged 13 to 19 years and 74 parents attending adolescent clinic. INTERVENTION: Participants completed an anonymous confidential 10-minute questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Data on knowledge about HPV, cervical cancer (CC), attitudes and acceptance of the HPV vaccine. RESULTS: Responses of 175 adolescent girls and 74 parents were analyzed. Overall, 48.9% of the teens were sexually active (SA) and had a 2.2-fold greater odds (OR = 2.21; 95% CI = 1.13-4.36) of being interested in HPV vaccination versus girls who were not SA. While only 55.8% of girls knew what HPV is, this knowledge was significantly associated with knowing that most CC is caused by HPV (P < 0.001) and with interest in receiving HPV vaccination (P < 0.001). Less than half (44.5%) of adolescent girls were interested in receiving the HPV vaccine and only 37.5% of parents. There were no significant influences in parental acceptance of the vaccine with regard to age, ethnicity and educational level, insurance, and living situation.The majority of parents wanted the vaccine for its role in preventing CC. CONCLUSIONS: Although controversy surrounds HPV vaccine in regard to its supposed role in promoting SA, only a minority of our parents showed concern for that association. The level of acceptance of the HPV vaccine was overall lower than what has been reported among other racial/ethnic populations. Knowledge about HPV and its association with CC were significantly associated with interest in getting the HPV vaccine and both parents and teens seem to accept the HPV vaccine more for its role in CC prevention.