Parents’ Opinion about their Son’s Vaccination against HPV: Qualitative study

Description

Vaccination of 12-14 years old boys against Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is included in the National Immunization schedule of Latvia since 2022. Vaccination of girls was provided since 2010. HPV infection is the most frequent sexually transmitted infection. Gender neutral vaccination is recommended to ensure herd immunity and to prevent diseases caused by HPV, including, warts, papilomas and cancers. The major role in information provision for parents and invitation to vaccination in Latvia is from GP practices. The aim of this study was to determine boy’s parents’ opinion about their son vaccination against HPV and to invite them to vaccination.. A cross-sectional qualitative study was carried out in October -December 2022 in Riga, Latvia, in a GP practice. We invited 32 parents of 12-15 years old boys to individual semi-structured interviews. Inductive thematic analysis was used.. In total 30 out of 32 parents took part in the study. Predominantly females (n=28), average age 44 years old. None of respondents knew which cancers are associated with HPV in men, some wrongly guessed prostate cancer, some thought that men can only carry the virus. Less than a half or participants (n=14) agreed to vaccination right after interview; main arguments to vaccinate were protecting their son against HPV associated disease and trust in GP’s recommendations. Parents who disagreed, were either concerned about usefulness and side effects of the vaccine or were against vaccines in general. Almost all respondents mentioned that there should be more information. . This study brought out that there is limited knowledge about HPV associated diseases and benefits of the vaccine in men, and this might affect decision making, especially in vaccine doubters. There are still concerns about vaccine safety.

Period	29 Mar 2023
Event title	RSU Research week 2023: Society. Health. Welfare
Event type	Conference
Conference number	9
Organiser	Rīga Stradiņš University
Location	Riga, LatviaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International