Parental intention to have daughters receive the human papillomavirus vaccine.
BACKGROUND
Concerns have been raised that parents may be reluctant to have their daughters receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, because of a belief that doing so might be interpreted as condoning earlier and more frequent sexual activity. We determined intentions regarding vaccination among Canadian parents and factors that predicted parental intention to have their daughters vaccinated against HPV.


METHODS
Parents of children 8-18 years of age, recruited from across Canada, were asked to respond to questions in the context of a grade 6, publicly funded, school-based HPV vaccine program. We performed backward logistic regression analysis to identify factors predictive of parents' intention to have their daughters vaccinated against HPV.


RESULTS
Of the 1350 respondents with female children, more than 70% (73.8%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 71.5%-76.1%) intended to have their daughters undergo vaccination against HPV. In multivariable modelling, parents who had positive attitudes toward vaccines (odds ratio [OR] 9.9, 95% CI 4.7-21.1), those who were influenced by subjective norms (OR 9.2, 95% CI 6.6-12.9), those who felt that the vaccine had limited influence on sexual behaviour (OR 3.2, 95% CI 2.2-4.6) and those who thought someone they knew was likely to get cervical cancer (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.1) were more likely to intend that their daughters receive the HPV vaccine. Parents who were older (v. younger) (OR 0.6, 95% CI 0.4-0.8) and those who resided in British Columbia or Yukon Territory (v. Atlantic Canada) (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3-0.9) were less likely to intend that their daughters receive the HPV vaccine.


CONCLUSIONS
Most of the parents surveyed intended that their daughters would receive vaccination against HPV. Overall attitudes toward vaccines in general and toward the HPV vaccine in particular constituted the most significant predictor of parental intention with regard to vaccination.
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC. gina.ogilvie@bccdc.ca
Gina S
GS
Ogilvie
Valencia P
VP
Remple
Fawziah
F
Marra
Shelly A
SA
McNeil
Monika
M
Naus
Karen L
KL
Pielak
Thomas G
TG
Ehlen
Simon R
SR
Dobson
Deborah M
DM
Money
David M
DM
Patrick
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines; D010290:Parents; D010349:Patient Compliance; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines