Health Belief Model applied to non-compliance with HPV vaccine among female university students

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the reasons for refusal of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, and to explore participants' perceptions and attitudes about Health Belief Model (HBM) constructs (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action and self-efficacy) among a sample of female university students.

Study design: Cross-sectional. A self-administered questionnaire based on the HBM was used.

Methods: Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to the data to examine the construct validity of the six factor models extracted from the HBM. The predictors of non-HPV vaccination were determined by logistic regression models, using non-HPV vaccination as the dependent variable.

Results: The sample included 2007 students. The participation rate was 88.9% and the percentage of non-vaccination was 71.65%. Participants who had high scores for 'general perceived barriers', 'perceived barriers to vaccination', 'no perceived general benefits', 'no perceived specific benefits' and 'no general benefits' were more likely to report being unvaccinated.

Conclusions: The findings demonstrated the utility of HBM constructs in understanding vaccination intention and uptake. There is an urgent need to improve health promotion and information campaigns to enhance the benefits and reduce the barriers to HPV vaccination.

Keywords: Health Belief Model; Human papillomavirus; Vaccine.