Introduction
HPV vaccination is a highly effective public health measure for the prevention of several cancers (including cervical cancer) and genital warts. However, vaccination coverage among adolescents remains unsatisfactory in our setting (less than 60%), although this vaccination is offered in the 9th grade of compulsory school in the Canton of Vaud. We want to understand the reasons how parents decide to get their adolescent be vaccinated or not against HPV in schools in the Canton of Vaud.
Purpose
Collect information on parents' experiences in deciding whether or not to vaccinate their adolescent against HPV in the Canton of Vaud.
Project method
We conducted our two first focus groups (FG) with eight participants in one group of parents of vaccinated children (FGV1) and 8 participants in one group of parents of unvaccinated children (total of sixteen participants). After transcribing and coding the discussion content, we analyzed the different answers to our questions addressing the 3 following themes: level of knowledge of the participants, participants’ experience with school-based vaccination and suggestions for improvement of HPV vaccination.
Findings
The first FG (FGU1) was held on December 13, 2022 with parents whose adolescents were not vaccinated and the second (FGV1) was held on December 20, 2022, with parents whose adolescents were vaccinated. In FGU1, there were one male and seven females. Their mean age was 43.875 (range 36-57 years). In FGV1, there were two men and six women. The mean age was 43.625 (range 39-49 years).
Concerning knowledge, we found that those who had vaccinated their child were better informed than those who had not vaccinated their child. We found that the first source of information for almost all participants was the school but pediatricians play a decisive role in the final decision of some participants of both groups.
Most participants would like to see a change in communication about HPV vaccination at school. Members of FGU1 complain particularly about the lack of thorough information content.
One avenue for improvement proposed by participants could be the distribution of a specific HPV vaccination brochure. Another way of increasing the knowledge would be to give links to reliable online sources about vaccination, with QR codes, for example.
Conclusion
A lack of information was reported by most parents of unvaccinated children. Improved communication and catch-up strategies could significantly increase vaccination coverage, as half of the participants who did not vaccinate their child did not rule out the possibility of future HPV vaccination.