Effects of cultural cues on perceptions of HPV vaccination messages among parents and guardians of American Indian youth.

The encouragement of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is an important goal for interventions among American Indians (AIs), given the significant disparities AIs face with respect to HPV cancers. Tailoring intervention messages to the culture of message recipients has been proposed as a potentially useful intervention approach, yet cultural tailoring of HPV messages has never been tested among AIs. The objective of this research was to test the effectiveness of cultural tailoring in positively affecting two variables that have been proposed as mechanisms of tailoring effects, namely identification with the message and perceptions of message effectiveness.

Understanding the role of the news media in HPV vaccine uptake in the United States: Synthesis and commentary.

Vaccination rates for the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine fall below targets and only 2 states and the District of Columbia require the vaccine for middle school-age children. Messages conveyed through news media-to parents, providers, policymakers, and the general public-may contribute to sluggish vaccination rates and policy action. In this commentary, we review the findings from 13 published studies of news media coverage of the HPV vaccine in the United States since FDA licensure in 2006.