Short communicationPhysicians’ current use and preferences for male HPV vaccine-related patient education materials
Introduction
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) currently recommends routine human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination of all males ages 11–12 years, catch-up vaccination for males ages 13–21 years, and vaccination for men who have sex with men ages 22–26 [1]. However, in 2015, HPV vaccine initiation rates for males aged 13–17 was approximately 49.8% nationally and 45.3% in Florida. Three-dose series completion for males in this group was 28.1% nationally and 19.8% in Florida [2]. While 2015 vaccination rates are higher than in 2014, the gap between male vaccination rates in Florida and the national average increased [3]. Provider recommendation is critical to vaccine uptake [4], [5], [6]. Some studies suggest that adequate, clear, and accessible information for parents may enhance acceptance of a provider’s recommendation and improve confidence and trust in the system [7], [8], [9]. However, little is known about physicians’ current use of or preferences for educational materials regarding HPV vaccination. As part of a larger study of physician recommendation of HPV vaccination for males, this sub-study used survey data from Pediatric (Ped) and Family Medicine (FM) physicians in Florida to assess: (1) current use of educational materials regarding male HPV vaccination, and (2) preferences for HPV vaccination patient educational materials.
Section snippets
Methods
Participant recruitment and the survey are detailed elsewhere [10], [11] and briefly summarized below.
Sample description
As shown in Table 1, 46.8% (n = 154) of participants were Peds and 53.2% (n = 175) were FM physicians. The majority identified as White (66.6%) and non-Hispanic (74.1%). Almost half (47.7%) were VFC providers and were in practice an average of 17.1 years (range: 0–38 years). Table 2 provides the exact wording, response options, and results for current use of and preferences for educational materials.
Current use of educational materials for males
Overall, most (59.1%) reported providing their male patients/parents of male patients with HPV
Discussion
Over three-quarters of physicians in our study indicated they preferred using a factsheet as a resource when talking to their male patients/parents of male patients about HPV vaccination. While this was the resource that was most preferred, recent systematic reviews examining ways to increase HPV vaccine uptake show studies that use factsheets alone do not facilitate an increase in HPV vaccination intent or uptake [12], [13] and therefore are not recommended to be used in isolation by the
Conclusions
Our findings show that Peds and FM physicians have different preferences for materials; therefore it may be beneficial to develop materials for each specialty. Future research should focus on the development of new materials and assessing their effectiveness, in combination with other effective strategies for Peds and FM physicians in order to increase HPV vaccine uptake.
Acknowledgments
This research was approved by the institutional review board (protocol #17655) and supported by funding from the Bankhead-Coley Cancer Research Program (4BB10). This work was also supported in part by the Biostatistics Core at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, an NCI designated Comprehensive Cancer Center (P30-CA076292). MLK is supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (R25-CA090314) and the Center for Research in Infection and Cancer (
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