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
. 2017 Nov 7;17(1):872.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4879-2.

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? Perspectives on HPV vaccination among girls, boys, and parents in the Netherlands: a Q-methodological study

Nathalie J S Patty  1 , Hanna Maria van Dijk  2 , Iris Wallenburg  2 , Roland Bal  2 , Theo J M Helmerhorst  3 , Job van Exel  2   4 , Jane Murray Cramm  2
Affiliations

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? Perspectives on HPV vaccination among girls, boys, and parents in the Netherlands: a Q-methodological study

Nathalie J S Patty et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Despite the introduction of Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in national immunization programs (NIPs), vaccination rates in most countries remain relatively low. An understanding of the reasons underlying decisions about whether to vaccinate is essential in order to promote wider spread of HPV vaccination. This is particularly important in relation to policies seeking to address shortfalls in current HPV campaigns. The aim of this study was to explore prevailing perspectives concerning HPV vaccination among girls, boys, and parents, and so to identify potential determinants of HPV vaccination decisions in these groups.

Method: Perspectives were explored using Q-methodology. Forty-seven girls, 39 boys, and 107 parents in the Netherlands were asked to rank a comprehensive set of 35 statements, assembled based on the health belief model (HBM), according to their agreement with them. By-person factor analysis was used to identify common patterns in these rankings, which were interpreted as perspectives on HPV vaccination. These perspectives were further interpreted and described using data collected with interviews and open-ended questions.

Results: The analysis revealed four perspectives: "prevention is better than cure," "fear of unknown side effects," "lack of information and awareness," and "my body, my choice." The first two perspectives and corresponding determinants of HPV vaccination decisions were coherent and distinct; the third and fourth perspectives were more ambiguous and, to some extent, incoherent, involving doubt and lack of awareness and information (perspective 3), and overconfidence (perspective 4).

Conclusions: Given the aim of publically funded vaccination programs to minimize the spread of HPV infection and HPV-related disease and the concerns about current uptake levels, our results indicate that focus should be placed on increasing awareness and knowledge, in particular among those in a modifiable phase.

Keywords: Boys; Girls; Health belief model; Human papillomavirus; Parents; Perspective; Q-methodology; Vaccination.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

According to the Central Committee on Research Involving Human Subject (CCMO), the current study did not fall within the scope of the Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act and therefore did not have to undergo prior review by an accredited Medical Research and Ethics Committee or the CCMO. All respondents were informed about the aims of the study and its anonymous and voluntary nature, before giving their consent to participate. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Consent for publication

Participants gave their consent for using their anonymized data for analysis and writing scientific publications.

Competing interests

Authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Health Belief Model
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Score Sheet
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization. Human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical Cancer 2016. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs380/en/. Accessed 1 August 2016.
    1. World Health Organization. Immunization, vaccines and Biologicals 2010. http://www.who.int/immunization/topics/hpv/en/. Accessed 2 June 2016.
    1. Garland SM. Prevention strategies against human papillomavirus in males. Gynecol Oncol. 2010;117(2):20–25. doi: 10.1016/j.ygyno.2010.01.027. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Stanley M. HPV vaccination in boys and men. Hum Vaccin & Immunother. 2014;10(7):2109–2111. doi: 10.4161/hv.29137. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HPV-associated cancer Statistics 2016. https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/hpv/statistics/. Accessed 10 August 2016.

Substances