A participatory method to develop human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine short video content for rural New York parents

Abstract

Purpose: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake is lower in rural areas, particularly for boys. The purpose of the study was to demonstrate how a participatory approach to developing a series of videos about the HPV vaccine better meets the informational needs of rural parents.

Methods: We recruited six rural parents to participate on a parent advisory board (PAB). The PAB met monthly spanning five months (n = 5 meetings) from February to May 2023. Each meeting focused on an element of video creation, including: 1) Providing feedback on existing HPV vaccine videos created by federal agencies and developing a tailored plan for local rural parents; 2) Providing feedback on the video plan so the study team could draft scripts; 3) Editing scripts; 4) Finalizing video concepts; and 5) Providing feedback to produced videos. Between meetings, parents completed tasks to facilitate the process, which also served as a way for parent input to be documented. We worked with a local, professional videographer to produce the videos. A local parent and a nurse practitioner were recruited as actors.

Results: Six one-minute videos were produced on the following topics: What is HPV?; Does the vaccine prevent cancer?; How does the vaccine work?; Is the vaccine safe?; Who should get the vaccine?; and Where can you go to get the vaccine? The PAB was essential in clarifying source, message, channel and receiver throughout the video creation process.

Conclusions: Engaging parents to co-create a series of one-minute videos supports HPV vaccine confidence efforts in rural areas.

Keywords: Communicable disease prevention; HPV vaccine; Health behavior; Health communication; Participatory methods; Rural; Vaccine confidence.

Fig. 1

Timeline of HPV vaccine video project with Parent Advisory Board meeting goals.