HPV Vaccine recommendations: does a health care provider’s gender and ethnicity matter to Unvaccinated Latina college women?

ABSTRACT

Objectives: There are disparities in the uptake of HPV vaccine among racial/ethnic minority women. The strongest predictor of HPV vaccine uptake among adult women is health care provider (HCP) recommendation; however, it is unclear how issues relating to race/ethnicity may mitigate these recommendations. Research shows that racial/ethnic and gender concordance between a patient and HCP can improve patient satisfaction, access and quality of care. If concordance contributes to improved patient-provider interactions, then it may be a factor in patient decisions regarding HPV vaccination. The objectives of this study were to (1) explore gender and ethnicity HCP preference regarding HPV vaccination among unvaccinated; and (2) understand factors associated with those preferences.

Design: Unvaccinated Latina college students (n = 187) completed a survey that assessed HCP preferences, medical mistrust, cultural assimilation and HPV vaccine recommendation. Logistic regression models evaluated associations between above variables with HPV knowledge and preference for a female and/or Latina HCP.

Results: Most respondents had health insurance (71%), a regular HCP (64%), were US-born (67%), with foreign-born parents (74%). Thirty-four percent and 18% agreed that they would be more likely to get the HPV vaccine if the recommending HCP was female and Latino, respectively. Latina women reporting higher medical mistrust preferred a HPV vaccine recommendation from a Latino/a provider.

Conclusions: Latinas’ preferences regarding gender and ethnicity of their HCPs may affect patient-provider interactions. Increasing diversity and cultural awareness among HCPs, and providing linguistically and culturally-appropriate information may decrease patient-provider mistrust, increase uptake of the HPV vaccine, and decrease persistent cervical cancer disparities.

KEYWORDS:

• Health care personnel
• Latinas
• HPV
• vaccine
• disparities

Acknowledgments

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIMHD or the CDC. E. M. Daley is currently a member of Merck's US HPV Vaccine Advisory Board.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported through funding from an internal research award from the Department of Community and Family Health at the University of South Florida, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Center (Grant No. 1U58DP005945-01), and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD; Grant No. S21MD000101). E. M. Daley has received research funding from Merck and has also received remuneration from Merck Pharmaceuticals for expert consultation.