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Background

Many Western countries have cervical cancer screening programmes and have implemented nation-wide human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programmes for preventing cervical cancer.

Objective

To explore immigrant women's experiences and views on the prevention of cervical cancer, screening, HPV vaccination and condom use.

Design

An exploratory qualitative study. The Health Belief Model (HBM) was used as a theoretical framework.

Setting and participants

Eight focus group interviews, 5–8 women in each group (average number 6,5), were conducted with 50 women aged 18–54, who studied Swedish for immigrants. Data were analysed by latent content analysis.

Results

Four themes emerged: (i) deprioritization of women's health in home countries, (ii) positive attitude towards the availability of women's health care in Sweden, (iii) positive and negative attitudes towards HPV vaccination, and (iv) communication barriers limit health care access. Even though the women were positive to the prevention of cervical cancer, several barriers were identified: difficulties in contacting health care due to language problems, limited knowledge regarding the relation between sexual transmission of HPV and cervical cancer, culturally determined gender roles and the fact that many of the women were not used to regular health check-ups.

Conclusion

The women wanted to participate in cervical cancer prevention programmes and would accept HPV vaccination for their daughters, but expressed difficulties in understanding information from health-care providers. Therefore, information needs to be in different languages and provided through different sources. Health-care professionals should also consider immigrant women's difficulties concerning cultural norms and pay attention to their experiences.

Background. From spring of 2012, human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine against cervical cancer is offered free of charge to all girls aged 10-12 years through a school-based vaccination programme in Sweden. The aim of this study was to explore how parents reason when they accept HPV vaccination for their young daughter and also their views on HPV-related information. Methods. Individual interviews with parents (n = 27) of 11-12-year-old girls. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using thematic content analysis. Results. Three themes emerged through the analysis: Trust versus concern, Responsibility to protect against severe disease, and Information about HPV and HPV vaccination is important. The parents expressed trust in recommendations from authorities and thought it was convenient with school-based vaccination. They believed that cervical cancer was a severe disease and felt a responsibility to protect their daughter from it. Some had certain concerns regarding side effects and vaccine safety, and wished for a dialogue with the school nurse to bridge the information gaps. Conclusions. Trust in the recommendations from authorities and a wish to protect their daughter from a severe disease outweighed concerns about side effects. A school-based vaccination programme is convenient for parents, and the school nurse has an important role in bridging information gaps. The findings from this qualitative study cannot be generalized; however, it can provide a better understanding of how parents might reason when they accept the HPV vaccination for their daughter.

Aim: To explore why parents refused to allow their 10- to 12-year-old daughters to receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination from the Swedish school-based vaccination programme.

Methods: Individual interviews with 25 parents who had been offered, but not consented to, their daughters receiving the HPV vaccination.

Results: Five themes emerged through the interviews: 1) she is just a little girl, 2) inadequate information, 3) not compatible with our way of life, 4) scepticism about the vaccination and 5) who can you trust? The parents made their decisions with their child’s best interests in mind. This was not considered the right time, and the vaccine as perceived as unnecessary and different from other vaccines. Mistrust in Government recommendations and a lack of evidence or information were other reasons to decline.

Conclusion: The decision-making process was complex. These parents preferred to wait until their daughter was older and believed the information they received from the school health system was insufficient. The results indicate that a more flexible HPV vaccination schedule may improve vaccine uptake. This includes more transparent information about the virus and the vaccine and information about who to contact to get the daughter vaccinated at a later date.

Background: Sweden introduced a school-based human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme in 2012, andschool nurses are responsible for managing the vaccinations. The aim of the present study was to investigate theattitudes and experiences of school nurses regarding the school-based HPV vaccination programme 1 year after itsimplementation.Methods: Data were collected using a web-based questionnaire in the spring of 2013, and 83.1% (851/1024) ofnurses responded.Results: There were strong associations between the nurses’ education about the HPV vaccine and their perceivedknowledge about the vaccine and a favourable attitude towards vaccination (both p < 0.001). School nurses whoreceived a high level of education were more likely to have a positive attitude to HPV vaccination compared withnurses with little education about HPV vaccination (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 9.8; 95% confidence interval [CI]:3.797–25.132). Nurses with high perceived knowledge were more likely to have a positive attitude compared withthose with a low level of perceived knowledge (OR = 2.5; 95% CI: 1.299–4.955). If financial support from thegovernment was used to fund an additional school nurse, nurses were more likely to have a positive attitude thanif the financial support was not used to cover the extra expenses incurred by the HPV vaccination (OR = 2.1; 95% CI:1.051–4.010). The majority, 648 (76.1%), had been contacted by parents with questions about the vaccine, mostlyrelated to adverse effects. In addition, 570 (66.9%) stated that they had experienced difficulties with thevaccinations, and 337 (59.1%) of these considered the task to be time-consuming.Conclusions: A high level of education and perceived good knowledge about HPV are associated with a positiveattitude of school nurses to the HPV vaccination programme. Thus, nurses require adequate knowledge, education,skills and time to address the questions and concerns of parents, as well as providing information about HPV.Strategic financial support is required because HPV vaccination is a complex and time-consuming task.

Objective: To improve primary prevention of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection by promoting vaccination and increased condom use among upper secondary school students. Design: Cluster randomised controlled trial. Setting: 18 upper secondary schools in Sweden. Participants: Schools were first randomised to the intervention or the control group, after which individual classes were randomised so as to be included or not. Of the 832 students aged 16 years invited to participate during the regular individual health interview with the school nurse, 751 (90.2%) agreed to participate and 741 (89.1%) students completed the study. Interventions: The intervention was based on the Health Belief Model (HBM). According to HBM, a person's health behaviour can be explained by individual beliefs regarding health actions. School nurses delivered 30 min face-to-face structured information about HPV, including cancer risks and HPV prevention, by propagating condom use and HPV vaccination. Students in the intervention and the control groups completed questionnaires at baseline and after 3 months. Main outcome measures: Intention to use condom with a new partner and beliefs about primary prevention of HPV, and also specifically vaccination status and increased condom use. Results: All statistical analyses were performed at the individual level. The intervention had a significant effect on the intention to use condom (p=0.004). There was also a significant effect on HBM total score (p=0.003), with a 2.559 points higher score for the intervention group compared to the controls. The influence on the HBM parameters susceptibility and severity was also significant (p<0.001 for both variables). The intervention also influenced behaviour: girls in the intervention group chose to have themselves vaccinated to a significantly higher degree than the controls (p=0.02). No harms were reported. Conclusions: The school-based intervention had favourable effects on the beliefs about primary prevention of HPV, and increased the HPV vaccination rates in a diverse population of adolescents.