October 18, 2016 – HPV Messages

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Anchor lead: Can targeted messages improve acceptance of the HPV vaccine? Elizabeth Tracey reports

The HPV vaccine prevents cancer, but less than half of young teenagers receive it.  Now brief, targeted messages developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may help, a recent study found.  Maria Trent, an adolescent medicine expert at Johns Hopkins, describes the results.

Trent:  They found that they were acceptable, people liked them, there were some specific brief messages around prevention that really resonated with parents, almost 70% of parents and physicians thought that they were good messages. That they were persuasive in terms of delivering the HPV vaccine. And so it’s a great study.  I think the next study though is to look to see whether or not those messages actually result in actions with parents and physicians because I think those have been two barriers to our young people getting the HPV vaccine.   :29

Trent says pediatricians and parents seem to be somewhat wary of each other in talking about the HPV vaccine and their child’s emerging sexuality, and hopes these brief messages help to break the ice.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.