Provider and Parent Perspectives on Enhanced Communication Tools for Human Papillomavirus Vaccine-Hesitant Parents

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine initiation and completion rates remain far below the Healthy People 2020 goal, suggesting that additional tools and training may be needed to help medical staff provide a quality recommendation. As part of a larger pragmatic trial, we conducted a qualitative study to understand how a multifaceted communication intervention used by medical staff with HPV vaccine-hesitant parents can improve HPV vaccination rates in the primary care setting.

At 8 primary care intervention clinics in the Denver metro area, medical staff and parents of adolescent boys and girls ages 11 to 17 years eligible to start the HPV vaccine series at a recent well care visit were recruited for study participation. Focus groups with medical staff and in-depth interviews with hesitant parents were conducted during the post-intervention period. All data were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using established qualitative methods.

Twenty parents and 46 medical staff participated. All parents and medical staff felt that the overall intervention was beneficial and should continue to be used and preferred the HPV vaccine fact sheet component. Medical staff reported that communication trainings (intervention component) that taught a presumptive approach and motivational interviewing were the most beneficial for introducing the HPV vaccine and for countering HPV vaccine hesitancy, respectively. Least favorable components were the decision aid, disease images, and parent website.

Select components of a multifaceted communication intervention were seen as beneficial to HPV vaccine-hesitant parents and medical staff. Future studies should look at how to implement these intervention components in a greater number of primary care settings.