April 7-9, 2022 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Abstract: Examining Foreign-Born Mothers' (FBMs) Perceptions, Attitudes, Information Needs, and Information Seeking Behaviors Related to HPV Vaccines and Vaccinations
Background: HPV vaccine uptake in the US is still lower than the Healthy People 2020 goal of 80% coverage and is insufficient to achieve strong herd immunity (Walker et al., 2016, as cited in Hirth et al., 2018). Research shows that low uptake is more prevalent in immigrants. This is concerning as immigrants have the highest HPV-related cancer burden including cervical cancer and mortality rates (Jeudin et al., 2013; Joseph et al., 2014, as cited in Ashing et al., 2019). Moreover, foreign-born women are significantly less likely to receive the HPV vaccine than US-born women (Cofie et al., 2018). Factors including SES, culture and level of English proficiency are shown to be associated with low HPV vaccine uptake among immigrants (Galbraith et al., 2016; Kepka et al., 2021). This study examined the health information seeking behaviors of foreign-born mothers (FBMs) in the US concerning HPV vaccines and vaccination. Methods: We administered an online survey to a convenience sample of FBMs (>= 18years) with children (ages 9-24years) living in the US (recruited using Amazon Mechanical Turk and deployed using Qualtrics). Statistical analysis was done using SPSS computer software version 27. Results: Preliminary findings show that of the 277 FBMs surveyed, 52.3% have a college degree and about 52% are comfortable speaking English. A great majority of FBMs (62.5%) have ever heard of the HPV vaccine and 62.5% have given the vaccine to their children. We found that 77.6 % of the women have searched for health-related information particularly, from the internet (82.1%) and from their doctors (73.7%) respectively. A majority of those that have ever searched for health information somewhat agree (57.3%) that it took them a lot of effort to find the information that they needed. Whereas 46.4% agree that they were frustrated with the search. The majority of FBMs who have never searched for health information (85.2%) have also not given any of the recommended HPV vaccine shots to their children. A chi-square test of independence further indicates that there is a statistically significant relationship between searching for health information and receiving HPV vaccine for child X2 (1, N = 272) = 22.665, p = .000. Regarding their information needs, 43.7% of FBMs feel unsure that they know enough about the vaccine to give it to their child(ren), while almost all (99%) want to know the long-term side effects of the vaccine. Other inferential statistics including logistic regressions will also be presented Discussion: Generally, a substantive number of the surveyed FBMs have some knowledge about HPV and HPV vaccines. Still, this does not translate into sufficient vaccine uptake in this population despite observed high educational levels. Impactful HPV vaccination interventions in a country with diverse cultures such as the U.S. require strategic planning, defined target populations, and tailored health messages to be useful to these multi-cultural demographics.