Abstract
ABSTRACTBackground: Cervical cancer vaccination is efficacious and widely available, yet uptake is less than optimal, even in countries such as Australia that provide government-funded vaccination programmes. Effective communication strategies are needed for presenting Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine-related information in a format that enhances understanding about the vaccine, and ultimately, uptake of the vaccine. Using the Common Sense Model framework, we aimed to assess the role of illness coherence in women’s decisions to undergo the vaccine. As a secondary aim, we piloted a communication strategy entailing the provision of Disease Risk-Action Link information about the links between HPV, cervical cancer, and vaccination on women’s cervical cancer illness coherence.Methods: In total, 132 young Australian women (18–26 years old) completed online surveys measuring illness coherence, vaccine status, intentions to undergo vaccination, and medical/demographic variables. Women who had not undergone vaccination were then randomised to receive either a brief or detailed information message about cervical cancer. Messages varied by the extent of detail (brief vs. detailed) providing Disease Risk-Action Link information about the link between the action of the vaccine, the HPV, and cervical cancer. Next, illness coherence was re-assessed.Results: ANOVA results suggested that women who were vaccinated reported higher levels of illness coherence. Linear regression analyses indicated that, in non-vaccinated women, illness coherence was significantly associated with intentions to vaccinate. ANCOVA analysis indicated that non-vaccinated women assigned to the detailed message condition reported greater increases in illness coherence compared to those assigned to the brief message condition.Conclusion: Illness coherence appears to be an important factor in actual vaccination uptake and intentions to vaccinate. The experimental informational message manipulation further demonstrated that the provision of detailed messages highlighting the Disease-Risk-Action Links in the cervical cancer context can promote illness coherence.
Highlights
Cervical cancer vaccination is efficacious and widely available, yet uptake is less than optimal, even in countries such as Australia that provide government-funded vaccination programmes
We aimed to demonstrate that illness coherence could be improved by providing women with detailed information about the link between vaccination, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and genital warts, and other risk factors for cervical cancer, such as smoking and the number of sexual partners, compared with brief information related to vaccination
The subgroup analysis of women who have not undergone vaccination provided further support for this claim by demonstrating that intentions to vaccinate were stronger in women with a more coherent understanding of cervical cancer. While these results complement that of other work conducted in cervical cancer, in which illness coherence was associated with the intention to uptake other preventive and protective behaviours, such as quitting smoking (Hall et al, 2004), this study extends this work to demonstrate that illness coherence is associated with the intention to vaccinate, and the likelihood of being vaccinated
Summary
Cervical cancer vaccination is efficacious and widely available, yet uptake is less than optimal, even in countries such as Australia that provide government-funded vaccination programmes. We piloted a communication strategy entailing the provision of Disease RiskAction Link information about the links between HPV, cervical cancer, and vaccination on women’s cervical cancer illness coherence. Women who had not undergone vaccination were randomised to receive either a brief or detailed information message about cervical cancer. Messages varied by the extent of detail (brief vs detailed) providing Disease Risk-Action Link information about the link between the action of the vaccine, the HPV, and cervical cancer. Linear regression analyses indicated that, in non-vaccinated women, illness coherence was significantly associated with intentions to vaccinate. ANCOVA analysis indicated that non-vaccinated women assigned to the detailed message condition reported greater increases in illness coherence compared to those assigned to the brief message condition. The experimental informational message manipulation further demonstrated that the provision of detailed messages highlighting
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