Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Dec;35(6):651-7.
doi: 10.1007/s10865-012-9397-1. Epub 2012 Jan 21.

Default policies and parents' consent for school-located HPV vaccination

Paul L Reiter  1 , Annie-Laurie McRee, Jessica K Pepper, Noel T Brewer
Affiliations

Default policies and parents' consent for school-located HPV vaccination

Paul L Reiter et al. J Behav Med. 2012 Dec.

Abstract

While defaults may encourage some health behaviors, how defaults influence controversial behaviors is not well understood. We examined the effect of two default policies on parents' consent to have their adolescent sons hypothetically receive HPV vaccine at school. A national sample of 404 parents of adolescent sons participated in an online 3 × 2 between-subjects factorial experiment. Factors varied the default consent policy (opt-in, opt-out, or neutral) and the number of vaccines sons would receive (HPV vaccine alone or along with two other recommended adolescent vaccines). Among parents wanting to get their sons HPV vaccine in the next year, consent was higher in the opt-in condition (compared to the opt-out condition) or if other recommended adolescent vaccines would be included. Default policies had no effect among parents undecided about HPV vaccination. Parents' consent for school-located HPV vaccination may be higher when presented as an opt-in decision and other vaccines are included.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

A research grant to Authors #1 and #4 from Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. funded the study. Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. played no role in the study design, planning, implementation, analysis, or reporting of the findings. Author #4 has also received grants and/or honoraria from GlaxoSmithKline and Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. Author #1 has not received honoraria or consulting fees from these companies.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Default consent policy. Error bars indicate standard errors.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of vaccines included in vaccine administration. Error bars indicate standard errors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Baker LC, Bundorf MK, Singer S, Wagner TH. Validity of the survey of health and internet and knowledge network’s panel and sampling. 2003 Available: http://www.knowledgenetworks.com/ganp/docs/Appendix%20Survey%20of%20Heal....
    1. Brabin L, Roberts SA, Stretch R, Baxter D, Chambers G, Kitchener H, McCann R. Uptake of first two doses of human papillomavirus vaccine by adolescent schoolgirls in Manchester: prospective cohort study. British Medical Journal. 2008;336(7652):1056–1058. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Brener ND, Wheeler L, Wolfe LC, Vernon-Smiley M, Caldart-Olson L. Health services: results from the school health policies and programs study 2006. Journal of School Health. 2007;77(8):464–485. - PubMed
    1. Brotherton JM, Deeks SL, Campbell-Lloyd S, Misrachi A, Passaris I, Peterson K, et al. Interim estimates of human papillomavirus vaccination coverage in the school-based program in Australia. Communicable Diseases Intelligence. 2008;32(4):457–461. - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2010 child and adolescent immunization schedules. 2010a Available: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/child-schedule.htm.

Publication types

Substances