1. Influences on Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Status Among Female College Students.
- Author
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Daley EM, Vamos CA, Buhi ER, Kolar SK, McDermott RJ, Hernandez N, and Fuhrmann HJ
- Subjects
WOMEN'S health ,HUMAN papillomavirus vaccines ,COLLEGE students ,URBAN universities & colleges ,ETHNICITY ,WOMEN'S sexual behavior ,CONTINUING education ,PREVENTIVE medicine ,ANALYSIS of variance ,CHI-squared test ,SERVICES for college students ,COMPARATIVE studies ,CONFIDENCE intervals ,EPIDEMIOLOGY ,QUESTIONNAIRES ,RISK-taking behavior ,STATISTICAL sampling ,STATISTICS ,WOMEN ,DATA analysis ,HEALTH of college students ,HEALTH literacy ,VACCINATION ,THERAPEUTICS - Abstract
Objective: In 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil
® (Merck) for girls and women aged 9-26 years. Although the vaccine is ideally administered to 11 and 12 year olds, college-aged women may be uniquely at risk for HPV due to high rates of sexual activity and, thus, serve as an important catch-up population for the HPV vaccine. The purpose of this study is to examine factors associated with HPV vaccination status among college women. Methods: In fall 2008, a convenience sample of 256 undergraduate women enrolled in an introductory social science course at a large, public, urban university in the southeastern United States was surveyed. The 30-item paper-and-pencil questionnaire asked for demographic information, HPV knowledge, HPV vaccine beliefs, and HPV vaccination status. The overall survey response rate was 89.6%. Results: Most women were unmarried/single (91.7%), with a mean age of 18.9 years (range 17-42). Race/ethnicity status included 73.0% white, 17.5% Hispanic, and 7.7% black/African American. One hundred eleven (40.5%) women reported receiving the vaccine. Nonvaccinated women were less likely to have heard of the vaccine through a healthcare provider (odds ratio [OR] 0.12, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.04-0.35) or from a family member (OR 0.33, 95% CI 0.16-0.68) and more likely to consider a healthcare provider recommendation as being only somewhat important (OR 2.91, 95% CI 1.32-6.41) or not important at all (OR 5.61, 95% CI 0.44-71.87) vs. very important. Conclusions: Findings suggest that healthcare providers have an important role in encouraging HPV vaccination. Continuing education for providers who see preadolescent girls in conjunction with a parent or who treat women of college age may be a worthwhile endeavor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2010
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