What Methods Most Effectively Benefit Low HPV Vaccination Coverage?

A recent study conducted to determine optimal strategies for increasing HPV vaccinations in adolescents has found that “announcements” are more effective than “conversations” in communicating with parents and ensuring that an adolescent is vaccinated.

“Announcements are brief statements that assume parents are ready to vaccinate, whereas conversations engage parents in open-ended discussions,” the researchers wrote.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
RELATED CONTENT
CDC Recommends Reduction in HPV Doses 
How to Achieve High HPV Vaccination Rates: Study 
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In the study, researchers performed a parallel-group randomized clinical trial, recruiting 10 pediatric or family medicine clinics selected to receive conversation training, 10 clinics selected to receive announcement training, and 10 selected to receive no training. One clinic selected to receive announcement training closed during the follow-up and was excluded from the trial.

Providers selected for the 1-hour announcement training session were instructed to alert parents that the child was due for 3 vaccines, to list HPV in the middle, and to say they will vaccinate today. For the conversation training, providers were instructed in a 1-hour training session to mention the 3 vaccines and to establish a dialogue with parents before recommending the vaccinations.

Results for the clinical trial were obtained from the North Carolina Immunization Registry. Researchers measured HPV vaccinations 6-months after the trial and selected adolescents between 11 and 12 who received more than 1 dose of the HPV vaccine.

According to the immunization registry, 17,173 adolescents were attributed to 29 clinics 6 months after training. Clinics that received announcement training increased HPV vaccinations in more patients than the control clinics, with a 5.4% difference in the number of adolescents vaccinated after 6 months. In addition, there was a 4.6 difference in vaccinations in girls, and 6.2% difference in vaccinations for boys, and HPV vaccinations increased for both boys and girls overall.

The number of adolescents between 11 and 12 who received HPV vaccinations did not differ between the clinics selected for conversation training and the control clinics.

“By achieving a clinically meaningful improvement in HPV vaccine initiation coverage, the announcement training fills an important gap,” the researchers stated. Researchers recommended additional studies examine the reception of announcements by parents and adolescents, and effective ways to ease parents’ concerns.

—Melissa Weiss

Reference:

Brewer NT, Hall ME, Malo TL, et al. Announcements verses conversations to improve HPV vaccination coverage: a randomized trial [published online December 5, 2016]. Pediatrics. doi:10.1542/peds.2016-1764.