HPV vaccine acceptance among adolescent males and their parents in two suburban pediatric practices.

PURPOSE: To measure HPV vaccine acceptance among unvaccinated adolescent males and parents and correlate acceptance with knowledge, awareness, and personal experience.

METHODS

Adolescent males ages 11-21 years old and their parents completed questionnaires measuring attitudes and knowledge about HPV vaccination and personal experience. Acceptance was defined as wanting the vaccine and conditional acceptance as wanting the vaccine if it would protect against genital warts or cervical cancer.

RESULTS

Adolescent (n=154) and parent (n=121) vaccine acceptance was low (16% and 34%, respectively); however, conditional acceptance was higher. While adolescents had similar conditional acceptance for a vaccine against genital warts and cervical cancer, parents reported higher conditional acceptance for protection against genital warts. Independent predictors of acceptance included personal experience and demographic variables.

CONCLUSIONS

HPV vaccine acceptance among adolescents and parents was low. Conditional acceptance levels highlight the importance of education about a few important benefits of HPV vaccination, which may increase vaccination rates.