Evaluating the Additive Effects of Psychoeducational Data Collection Protocols to Family-Based RCT for Increasing HPV Vaccine Uptake Among Rural African American Mothers

Background: African American (AA) females who live in the rural southern regions of the USA suffer the greatest burden associated with HPV, with higher rates of cervical and vaginal cancer, compared to White females. The uptake of HPV vaccines can reduce this health disparity; however, less AA females initiate or complete series of HPV vaccines. Lower uptake has been associated with insufficient knowledge, concerns about safety, side effects, affordability, and feelings of discomfort in medical settings. These barriers may be averted through the use of research assessment reactivity, a process of integrating psychoeducational approaches in data collection protocols.

Research assessment reactivity as a preventive intervention strategy for rural AA families may be a mechanism for averting health disparities. Understanding the potential effects of research assessment reactivity in prevention science is a relatively new phenomenon, and even less is known about the contributions of this methodological approach in changing the perceptions or behavior of rural African Americans. The current study focuses on the extent to which exposure to educational information about HPV within a 3-arm RCT family based youth risk prevention program (Pathways for African American Success) data collection cycles can increase the uptake of the HPV vaccine among rural African American mothers for their children.

Objectives: We propose to: 1) investigate the effects HPV educational information in repeated interviews on AA mothers’ knowledge, attitudes, and planfulness to uptake HPV vaccine; 2) determine if repeated interviews influence HPV vaccine uptake. 

Methods: Interviewers read CDC HPV recommendations to 132 AA mothers of preadolescent daughters, then mothers completed a 12-item HPV questionnaire at three data collection points over 18 months.

 Results: At baseline, 90.23% of mothers were knowledgeable about HPV vaccines availability; that it prevented genital warts (82.71%), and recommended age for vaccine uptake (83.64%). These rates increased over time. Comparative analyses of HPV vaccine uptake after repeated measures revealed noticeable differences between levels of comfort with vaccine injections, W1: 7% vs. 29.73%; W2: 24.0% vs. 40.0%; W3: 38.89% vs. 60.78%, uncomfortable vs. comfortable, respectively. Although the uptake rate in both groups increased over time, greater acceptance was observed among mothers who were comfortable with HPV vaccines at baseline.  

Conclusion: Including psychoeducational information in questionnaires may be a convenient and effective alternative to preventive intervention programs for addressing health disparities. Implications for future application will be discussed.