Essay Example on Combating HPV in African American Women: Exploring a Program to Reduce Infection

Introduction

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most prevalent sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the United States. The most significant percentage of the 85% sexually active women affected by HPV are African Americans (Coyne-Beasley & Hochwalt, 2016). Studies have shown that HPV infections cause vulvar, vaginal, and cervical cancers in women. To address this, various programs have been developed to combat HPV infection in African American women. This paper seeks to identify one such program, contributions made by public agencies towards the program, the success achieved, as well as the challenges faced.

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Girls OnGuard Program

Regardless of being at a higher risk of HPV infection, African American women are underserved when they seek treatment for STIs. Studies have proved that GARDASIL vaccination is effective in preventing HPV infection (Zhai & Tumban, 2016). However, its uptake is low among this population particularly due to lack of awareness (Galbraith-Gyan, et al., 2019). This program, therefore, sought to increase uptake of the GARDASIL vaccine among African American adolescent females. It was based in Atlanta, Georgia and targeted 280 females aged between 13 and 18 years. It ran from October 2009 to March 2014 (National Library of Medicine). The project aimed to enhance HPV awareness and hence increase the rates of vaccination.

Contributions Made by Public Agencies

The project was sponsored by the Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp, the American pharmaceutical company that manufactures GARDASIL. The support, financial and otherwise, offered by the company contributed to the success of the project. Collaboration with scholars at Emory University helped provide technical expertise (National Library of Medicine).

The success of the Program

The program was largely successful. It proved that clinic-based promotion is a potent way of enhancing HPV vaccine uptake among the underserved African American girls. Though the initiation and completion of the vaccination series were lower compared to the national coverage, an increase in compliance was observed among the participants (National Library of Medicine).

The Social and Behavioral Factors Addressed

The low uptake of GARDASIL vaccine among African American women was the behavioral factor that the program sought to address. Lack of awareness on HPV vaccines was also to be addressed (National Library of Medicine). Addressing the issue contributed to the increased compliance among the participants.

Determinants of Health

Personal knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs, as well as the socioeconomic status of the participants, were some of the determinant of health that the study targeted. It was established that the personal factors play a more prominent role than the socioeconomic factors in the low uptake of HPV vaccines (National Library of Medicine).

Public Health Principles and Theories Used

The health belief model was used to help understand the low uptake of HPV vaccines (a preventive intervention) among African American women (Grace-Leitch & Shneyderman, 2016). Components of the social ecological model are also visible in the program since by understanding the behavior of the participants in the underserved environments, successful interventions would be developed (Kolff, Scott, & Stockwell, 2018).

Challenges Faced

The limited sample size used restricted the evaluation of the interventions. Since the program targeted school girls, a factor that contributed to the small sample size, change in bus routes affected the patient throughput. Resultantly, some participants might have gotten subsequent vaccinations from clinics not included in the program. It was also difficult to pinpoint which of the three interventions led to the increase in uptake of vaccines (DiClemente, Murray, Graham, & Still, 2015).

How the Program Could Have Been Improved

The social cognitive theory should also have been incorporated in the program. The interactions within the community play a significant role in the promotion of public health (Lin & Chang, 2018). Therefore, the program should have developed a way of determining how the interactions between the participants and the community enhanced the awareness of the non-participants on HPV vaccines.

References

Coyne-Beasley, T., & Hochwalt, B. E. (2016). Protecting Women Against Human Papillomavirus. North Carolina medical journal, 77(6), 402-405. Retrieved from http://www.ncmedicaljournal.com/content/77/6/402.short

DiClemente, R. J., Murray, C. C., Graham, T., & Still, J. (2015). Overcoming barriers to HPV vaccination: A randomized clinical trial of a culturally-tailored, media intervention among African American girls. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 11(12), 2883-2894. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21645515.2015.1070996

Galbraith-Gyan, K. V., Lechuga, J., Jenerette, C. M., Palmer, M. H., Moore, A. D., & Hamilton, J. B. (2019). HPV vaccine acceptance among African-American mothers and their daughters: an inquiry grounded in culture. Etnicity & health, 24(3), 323-340. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13557858.2017.1332758

Grace-Leitch, L., & Shneyderman, Y. (2016). Using the Health Belief Model to examine the link between HPV knowledge and self-efficacy for preventive behaviors of male students at a two-year college in New York City. Behavioral Medicine, 42(3), 205-210. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08964289.2015.1121131

Kolff, C. A., Scott, V. P., & Stockwell, M. S. (2018). The use of technology to promote vaccination: A social ecological model based framework. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 14(7), 1636-1646. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21645515.2018.1477458

Lin, H.-C., & Chang, C.-M. (2018). What motivates health information exchange in social media? The roles of the social cognitive theory and perceived interactivity. Information & Management, 55(6), 771-780. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037872061630129X

National Library of Medicine. (n.d.). Girls OnGuard: HPV Vaccination Uptake Among African American Adolescent Females (Girls OnGuard). Retrieved from U.S. National Library of Medicine: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00813319

Zhai, L., & Tumban, E. (2016). Gardasil-9: A global survey of projected efficacy. Antiviral research, 130, 101-109. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166354216300377