Developing a Self-persuasion Intervention Promoting Adolescent HPV Vaccination

Despite the fact that HPV vaccination is recommended for male and female adolescents, HPV vaccine coverage among adolescents age 13-17 is poor (60% for girls, 41.7% for boys). HPV-related cancers are a significant burden on the US healthcare system and could be prevented through adolescent vaccination. Rates of vaccination are suboptimal among underserved populations (uninsured, low-income, racial and ethnic minorities) often seen in safety-net clinics. Few interventions have been designed that target decision-making among parents of unvaccinated adolescents. Self-persuasion, generating of one's own arguments for a health behavior, may be an effective means of influencing HPV vaccination behaviors among undecided or ambivalent parents. Through three stages, investigators will identify and develop a self-persuasion intervention strategy to promote adolescent HPV vaccination in safety-net clinics. In Stage 3, reported here, investigators will conduct a two-arm pilot randomized control trial in the safety-net clinics to assess feasibility of testing the self-persuasion intervention condition against standard of care (control group). Parent-adolescent child dyads will be enrolled. Parents will be exposed to the intervention and the primary outcome (HPV vaccination) will be assessed on the adolescent child via the electronic health record. Investigators will also examine the impact of the intervention on parent-provider discussions about HPV vaccination.