Improving clinician communication to increase adolescent HPV vaccination rates

Abstract

Despite the proven effectiveness of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination, this vaccine is underused in the United States and is associated with many disparities and barriers to acceptance. Adolescent HPV vaccination rates failed to meet the Healthy People 2020 goal of 80% vaccine coverage when nearly all other routine adolescent vaccines met or were near this goal. When introducing the HPV vaccine series, many clinicians use a conversational approach, although years of research show that an announcement approach is more effective at increasing HPV vaccination rates. This article reviews current HPV vaccine communication practices used by clinicians and recommends evidence-based best practices to improve adolescent HPV vaccination rates in the United States.

Clinician Communication Training to Increase Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Uptake: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Although previous systematic reviews have delineated various communication strategies to improve HPV vaccination rates, they have primarily focused on the effects without integrating meta-analytical techniques to quantitatively assess outcomes across studies [ 15 , 16 ]. These reviews discuss the differences in communication strategies qualitatively, lacking rigorous comparative analysis.…”

“…These reviews discuss the differences in communication strategies qualitatively, lacking rigorous comparative analysis. Additionally, there is a noticeable absence of research on the most effective methods for training clinicians to utilize these strategies effectively [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. This oversight highlights a significant gap in our understanding of how best to equip healthcare providers to implement these interventions successfully.…”