HPV and cervical cancer prevention counseling with younger adolescents: implications for primary care.
OBJECTIVE
Primary care clinicians will continue to play an important role in cervical cancer prevention, particularly with regard to administration of the newly licensed human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and continued administration of Papanicolaou tests. Little is known about the factors that influence cervical cancer prevention counseling, particularly in the adolescent encounter. We conducted a qualitative study to better understand the implications for counseling about cervical cancer prevention by primary care clinicians who care for adolescents.


METHODS
We conducted in-depth interviews with 37 primary care clinicians in New Mexico to understand the context in which they provide anticipatory guidance about sexual health risks as well as their attitudes about counseling for the forthcoming HPV vaccine.


RESULTS
Clinicians identified 4 categories of factors related to their counseling experiences with adolescents about HPV: (1) the need to build rapport with adolescent patients, (2) the presumption that adolescent patients engage in high-risk behaviors, (3) the situational delivery and complexity of HPV counseling, and (4) perceptions of clinician and community receptivity to the HPV vaccine.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings show that conditions of the preadolescent and young adolescent visit pose a challenge to the successful integration of counseling about cervical cancer prevention in primary care. Counseling strategies that are designed to emphasize a preventive focus while including parents in the discussion at the time of vaccination and that are appropriate to populations with different cultural values and beliefs will help to enhance communication about cervical cancer prevention and the particular role of the HPV vaccine.
Sussman
Andrew L
AL
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
Helitzer
Deborah
D
Sanders
Margaret
M
Urquieta
Brisa
B
Salvador
Melina
M
Ndiaye
Khadidiatou
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D009516:New Mexico; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D033282:Parental Consent; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D015229:Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral / Q000150:complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000821:virology
D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines