Deciding on HPV Immunization in North Carolina

Noel T. Brewer, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, studies the psychology of medical decision making. Currently, Dr. Brewer and his colleagues, including Jennifer Smith, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology, are studying why girls and young women get the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, the first vaccine that can prevent much of cervical cancer. Their CHIME Project, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, examines how rural and African American parents decide to vaccinate their daughters against HPV, why doctors stock the vaccine, and what HPV DNA types are common in North Carolina. Findings of this research already have helped dispel speculations that teenage girls who are vaccinated might be more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior because of their increased perception of protection from HPV. Brewer reports that, “some think that young women will somehow compensate for the HPV vaccine’s protective nature by having more sex, to the point that their overall risk for sexually transmitted diseases becomes higher than before they were vaccinated…our findings say otherwise.” Brewer believes that these findings should free policymakers from concerns that their constituents would oppose adopting the HPV vaccine, or that mandating the vaccine would actually lead to more risky sexual behaviors among adolescents. Instead, health officials should focus on ensuring HPV vaccine utilization. Early findings from the project have been reported to all county health directors in North Carolina and to the North Carolina Immunization Branch. The project findings are supporting the planning of a 13-county social marketing campaign to increase HPV vaccination among adolescent girls.