Intervention studies to encourage HPV vaccination using narrative: A scoping review

Abstract

Objective: This review aimed to provide an overview of intervention studies that aimed to encourage HPV vaccination using narratives.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and PsycARTICLES for English language articles that quantitatively examined the persuasive effect of narratives on encouraging HPV vaccination through interventions.

Results: A total of 25 studies were identified. Most studies were conducted in the United States of America, adopted a convenient sampling of university students, measured vaccination intention as the primary outcome, and used text messages in the interventions. A minority of the studies measured vaccination behavior and examined the long-term effects of persuasion. Narratives were as effective as didactics and statistics in encouraging HPV vaccination in most included studies. The findings were mixed or scarce for the effect of combining narratives and statistics, and the person (the first vs. third), narrator, framing, and content of narratives.

Conclusion: More findings from a broader range of well-designed studies are needed to determine which narratives can encourage HPV vaccination across different populations.

Practice implications: Findings indicated using narratives can be a part of repertoire of messages encouraging HPV vaccination.

Keywords: HPV vaccination; HPV vaccines; Health communication; Intervention; Narrative; Persuasion; Vaccine hesitancy.