Based on their analysis of a mail-in questionnaire, researchers in Canada found that parents who had their daughters vaccinated differed from those who did not do so in perceived susceptibility to the disease, benefits and barriers of the vaccine, and cues to action.
Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a leading cause of sexually transmitted diseases, with more than 70% of sexually active people getting the virus at least once in their lifetimes. Persistent infection with some HPV strains can lead to cervical cancer, the second most common cancer in women, as well as to head-and-neck and other types of cancer and anogenital warts in both men and women.
Current HPV vaccines have been shown to be safe and virtually 100% efficacious in extensive clinical trials and use in the field, but routine vaccination targeted predominantly at young girls has generated widespread public controversy. Scientists from McGill University, the Lady Davis Institute at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, and Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec have identified key determinants in parents' decision-making about HPV vaccination of their daughters. Their results have been published in Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics.
774 Quebec parents of 9- to 10-year-old girls eligible to a local free school-based HPV vaccination program responded to a mail-in questionnaire, and their answers were analyzed in the framework of the Health Belief Model, which dissects decision-making into 5 factors: perceived susceptibility to and severity of HPV infection, perceived benefits and barriers of vaccination, and cues to action, ie, external influences promoting vaccination.
Link to the complete article on ScienceDaily: http://bit.ly/1GYLIC4
Oncology Onward: A Conversation With Penn Medicine's Dr Justin Bekelman
December 19th 2023Justin Bekelman, MD, director of the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation, sat with our hosts Emeline Aviki, MD, MBA, and Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, for our final episode of 2023 to discuss the importance of collaboration between academic medicine and community oncology and testing innovative cancer care delivery in these settings.
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