Knowledge, perceptions, and decision making about human papillomavirus vaccination among Korean American women: a focus group study.
OBJECTIVE
As one of the fastest growing ethnic minority groups in the United States, Korean American (KA) women experience a heightened cervical cancer burden. The advent of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine offers an unprecedented opportunity to eliminate cervical cancer disparities in KA women. However, the uptake of HPV vaccine among KA adolescents remains suboptimal. Hence, we set out to explore knowledge, perceptions, and decision making about HPV vaccination among KA women.


METHODS
We conducted four focus groups of 26 KA women who participated in a community-based, randomized, controlled trial to promote breast and cervical cancer screening. Focus group data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.


RESULTS
Four main themes emerged from the focus groups: 1) limited awareness and knowledge of HPV vaccine, 2) perceptions and beliefs about HPV vaccination (acceptance, negative perceptions, ambivalence), 3) patterns of decision making about HPV vaccination (hierarchical, peer influenced, autonomous, and collaborative), and 4) promoting HPV education and information sharing in the Korean community.


CONCLUSIONS
KA women are generally positive toward HPV vaccination, but lack awareness and knowledge about HPV. Culturally tailored HPV education programs based on KA women's decision-making patterns and effective information sharing by trustworthy sources in comfortable environments are suggested strategies to promote HPV vaccination in the KA community. The findings point to the need for a multilevel approach to addressing linguistic, cultural, and system barriers that the recent immigrant community faces in promoting HPV vaccinations. In the development of targeted interventions for KA women, educational strategies and patterns of decision making need to be considered.
Department of Community-Public Health, School of Nursing, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
Kyounghae
K
Kim
Department of Nursing, Honam University, Gwangju, South Korea.
Boyoung
B
Kim
Department of Community Health Nursing, College of Nursing & Research Institute of Nursing Science, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, South Korea.
Eunsuk
E
Choi
College of Nursing, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South Korea.
Youngshin
Y
Song
Department of Community-Public Health, School of Nursing, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. Electronic address: hhan3@jhu.edu.
Hae-Ra
HR
Han
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001213:Asian / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D001364:Awareness; D003657:Decision Making; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008875:Middle Aged; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000208:ethnology*; D010465:Perception; D036301:Qualitative Research; D014481:United States; D014505:Urban Population; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014611:Vaccination; D055815:Young Adult
D053918:Papillomavirus Vaccines