RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to understand through a quantitative assessment, the views of HPV and HPV vaccination among parents of sons from a FQHC in PR. METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire was given to a convenience sample of 200 parents of sons 9-17 years old. RESULTS: Nearly 30% of the parents reported that their sons had initiated the HPV vaccine regimen. Health care provider recommendation was significantly associated with vaccine initiation. Among parents of unvaccinated sons, the main reason for not getting the HPV vaccine was they did not know that boys were allowed to get the vaccine. CONCLUSIONS: Future efforts should focus on multilevel interventions aimed to increase knowledge as well as other modified behavioral determinants in parents of young males about HPV and the vaccine. Capacity building efforts should be targeted also to increase health providers' education and communication skills to promote HPV vaccination effectively.
Asunto(s)
Conocimientos, Actitudes y Práctica en Salud , Infecciones por Papillomavirus/psicología , Vacunas contra Papillomavirus/administración & dosificación , Padres/psicología , Aceptación de la Atención de Salud/psicología , Adolescente , Adulto , Niño , Estudios Transversales , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Infecciones por Papillomavirus/etnología , Aceptación de la Atención de Salud/etnología , Puerto Rico , Proveedores de Redes de Seguridad , Factores SocioeconómicosRESUMEN
The purpose of this study was to describe the socio-demographic characteristics, awareness of human papillomavirus (HPV), and willingness to vaccinate among a convenience sample of 60 immigrant Dominican parents of adolescent sons in a Federal Qualified Health Clinic in Puerto Rico. Participation involved completing a self-administered survey. Even though more than half of the parents had not received proper HPV vaccine orientation from healthcare provider (58.3 %) nor asked provider for vaccination recommendation for their adolescent sons (56.7 %), most parents were aware of HPV (91.7 %) and HPV vaccination among males (55.0 %). Among those with unvaccinated sons, willingness to vaccinate the son within the next year was high (83.8 %). The low vaccination percentage (31.7 %) and information exchange between the parents and the son's healthcare provider indicates an opportunity for future culturally tailored interventions to target HPV vaccination among healthcare providers and parents of foreign descent in order to increase HPV vaccine uptake among males.