Grant Details
Grant Number: |
1R01CA210125-01A1 Interpret this number |
Primary Investigator: |
Woodall, W |
Organization: |
Klein Buendel, Inc. |
Project Title: |
Web App Technology for Boys and Parents: Improving HPV Vaccine Uptake |
Fiscal Year: |
2016 |
Abstract
The President's Cancer Advisory Board and the Centers for Disease Control have called for renewed efforts in
promoting vaccination for Human Papillomavirus (HPV), including vaccination for adolescent boys, because
the uptake of this new vaccine remains alarmingly low. Currently, less than 15% of adolescent boys have
received the HPV vaccine; thus, most of this population remains at risk for oropharyngeal, anal, and penile
cancers. Many parents remain unconvinced of the safety and effectiveness of HPV vaccines, so effective and
accessible messaging to improve decision-making on this vaccine is needed. Parents of adolescent boys also
have different concerns about HPV vaccination than for adolescent girls, creating a need for unique health
communication interventions to promote vaccine uptake among boys. Interventions also need to address the
unique challenges of minority populations and populations for whom English is not the first language. A novel
digital intervention will be produced and evaluated for its ability to improve HPV vaccine outcomes.
Specifically, a mobile responsive web application (“mobile web app”) will be created that performs similar to a
mobile app but runs on a variety of computing platforms from personal desktop and laptop computers to the
latest smart phones and tablet computers. Mobile web app content will be targeted to parents and adolescent
boys aged 11-13 years living in New Mexico, a majority-minority population with large proportions of
Hispanics, Whites, and Native Americans. The specific aims are to: 1) carefully and systematically develop a
mobile web app (BoyVac) for smart phones, tablet computers, and personal computers that will utilize
Diffusion of Innovations principles to provide targeted information concerning HPV vaccine adoption to
adolescent males and their parents, particularly minority adolescents and parents; 2) implement a
comprehensive and rigorous test of the impact of the BoyVac mobile web app intervention on HPV vaccine
adoption outcomes via a randomized efficacy trial (BoyVac v. usual and customary care); and 3) examine the
dose-response relationships between mobile web app usage and vaccine outcomes within a components
analysis. A group-randomized pretest-posttest controlled design will be implemented, recruiting 1800 pairs of
parents and adolescent boys from 30 pediatric clinics (n=60 parents and boys per clinic) affiliated with the
Envision New Mexico, a best practices program at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center's
Department of Pediatrics. Parents will be surveyed at baseline, a 3-month follow-up, and a 9-month follow-up
and records HPV vaccination adoption for the boys will be obtained from the clinics' medical records at the 9-
month follow-up. Analyses will test the hypotheses that 1) more 11-13 year old boys in the intervention group
(BoyVac mobile web app) will adopt the HPV vaccine than boys in the usual and customary care comparison
group and 2) adoption of HPV vaccine will be mediated by improvements in theoretical mediators among
parents in the intervention compared to the usual and customary care comparison group.
Publications
None