An evaluation of the ‘protect their future’ video intervention on parents’ intentions to immunize adolescents

ABSTRACT

Background: This study tested the influence of the ‘Protect Their Future’ video intervention on adult intentions to vaccinate their adolescents.

Method: The study included 529 parents of 11- to 19-year-old adolescents in Appalachian Kentucky enrolled in group randomized controlled trial arms at 14 health clinic and community sites (seven in each arm) across eight counties. Approximately half the parents (n = 263) were enrolled in the full intervention. Participants in the intervention and control did not significantly differ by education, race, percentage working full-time or gender.

Results: Individuals in the intervention were 3.2 times more likely (P = .005) to intend for their female adolescent to receive HPV immunization. However, there was no support for the multivariate model for male HPV immunization. Inconsistent reasoned action findings for HPV, meningitis and flu intentions are also discussed.

Conclusions: This study suggests the importance of immunization-specific information motivating parents embedded in a general ‘adolescent vaccination platform’ promotion video may be most supportive in immunization contexts where the descriptive norms are well established parents, as is currently the case for meningitis, flu and female HPV immunization rates. Implications for male HPV parental education needs are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescents
• immunization
• video intervention
• Human Papilloma Virus vaccine
• Influenza vaccine
• Meningococcal vaccine

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Elisia L. Cohen is professor and Director of the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota and was the PI for this research study at the University of Kentucky.

Katharine J. Head is an assistant professor at IUPUI.

Philip Westgate is an Assistant Professor is an Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky.

Robin C. Vanderpool is an Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky.

Adam Parrish is a lecturer at the Nicholson School of Communication at the University of Central Florida.

Jenna Reno is a postdoctoral School at University of Colorado, Denver Medical Center.

Audrey Bachman is a doctoral candidate at the University of Kentucky.

Sarah Vos is a postdoctoral scholar.

Kevin Wombacher is a doctoral candidate at the University of Kentucky.

ORCID

Adam Parrish http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4937-1975

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Merck Sharp and Dohme (GB): [grant number IISP 50514].