title: The acceptability of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among women with physical disabilities.
abstract: The present paper aims to explore awareness and acceptability of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and to identify factors influencing HPV acceptability among women with physical disabilities in Taiwan. The study participants were 438 adult women with physical disabilities, aged 18-69 years. The participants were all officially registered as having physical disabilities in Taipei County, Taiwan, in March 2009. The major findings were that 54.5% of the participants had previously heard about the HPV vaccine and that vaccine acceptability was very low (3.2%) if the participants would have had to pay for the vaccine but would increase to 60% if the government were to provide the vaccine for free. We found that those participants who had had a Pap smear test within the past 1 year or 3 years were significantly more likely to be aware of and willing to receive the HPV vaccine than those who had not. To increase the HPV vaccination rate among women with physical disabilities, the study suggests that the current health care system in Taiwan should consider implementing free immunization for this group of women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Tzu-Chi University, Hualien City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Feng
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.forename: Si-Fan
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Lan-Ping
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Shang-Wei
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Mao-Jung
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Chia-Ling
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jin-Ding
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017281:Cost of Illness; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines / Q000191:economics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D013624:Taiwan; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines