Abstract
The incidence of cancers attributable to Human Papillomavirus (HPV) that affect males is on the rise. Currently in the UK teenage boys are not vaccinated against HPV while teenage girls are. The rationale for not vaccinating boys is that vaccinating girls should provide herd immunity to boys, however this does not protect men who have sex with men or men who have sex with unvaccinated women. The issue of whether to vaccinate boys or not is a controversial one with considerable lobbying taking place to change the existing policy. On one side of the debate are financial considerations while on the other side health equality is important. One avenue that has not been presented is the parental perspective. The current study uses a self-report questionnaire to explore what parents of teenage boys know about HPV and the vaccine and whether they want the vaccine for their sons. Only half of the parents had heard of HPV prior to completing the survey. Of those who had heard of HPV, knowledge about the health sequelae of HPV for men was poor relative to their knowledge about its impact on female health. Parents who would be willing to vaccinate their sons had higher levels of knowledge about HPV than those parents who would be unwilling or unsure. Irrespective of whether they had previously heard of HPV or not, once provided with a brief description of HPV, the majority of parents thought that boys should be offered the vaccination. There is a pressing need for public education about the potential impact of HPV on male health in order to facilitate uptake of the vaccine in the event of the vaccination programme being extended to men or to facilitate informed decision making about seeking the vaccine privately in the event that it isn’t.
Highlights
By March 31st 2017, 71 (37%) countries across the world had introduced the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination as part of their vaccination schedule for girls
There was a significant difference between those who had sons and daughters and those who had sons only (χ2(1) = 7.036, P = 0.008), with those with daughters being more likely to have heard of HPV (OR = 2.223, CI = 1.227–4.028). Those participants who had heard of HPV answered the remaining questions (n = 99)
That the HPV vaccination has been available for girls since 2008, most respondents who had heard of HPV correctly identified that it causes cervical cancer, the number identifying this link was lower in the open text answers than in the subsequent GK23 knowledge questions
Summary
By March 31st 2017, 71 (37%) countries across the world had introduced the HPV vaccination as part of their vaccination schedule for girls. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no research in the UK exploring what parents know about the health sequelae of HPV for males beyond genital warts It is unknown what parents of boys know about HPV as it relates to their sons and a lack of relevant knowledge may prevent them making informed choices about their son’s health either in the event of the vaccination programme being extended to males or in the event that it is not. The present study aimed to explore what parents of teenage boys in the UK know about HPV including how it relates to male health and whether the male HPV vaccination is something parents would want for their sons. This is the first study to explore these issues in the UK without providing parents with prior information about HPV and it is to be hoped that the findings will inform decision making about extending the HPV vaccination to boys as well as informing health literacy campaigns about HPV health sequelae in males
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