Abstract:

Background:
Social distancing measures to combat COVID-19 flare-ups impose challenges on delivering health promotion activities in the community. We present our efforts in supporting the continuation of vital health promotion activities to instil a more accurate understanding of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in parents/guardians and adolescents, and to enhance adolescent vaccination uptake. Blended synchronous learning activities are adopted to transform health education in response to the global public health crisis.

Methods and results:
We developed e-learning resources including animations and videos covering topics on essential information about prevalence, pathophysiology, signs and symptoms, and risk factors of HPV infection, efficacy and safety of HPV vaccination, benefits of HPV vaccination for cancer prevention, and myths and facts of HPV infection and HPV vaccination. The e-learning resources were developed in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals including nurses, physicians, and pharmacists. Parents were invited to provide personal accounts of how they support vaccinations for their family members and adolescents were asked to share their experience of receiving HPV vaccination. Multicomponent interventions incorporating blended synchronous learning activities will be offered to nine secondary schools, including real-time online education sessions with small group dialogues with a registered nurse and trained healthcare and lay volunteers. Outcomes including adolescents’ uptake of the HPV vaccine at one year after the intervention, adolescents’ intention to receive HPV vaccination, and vaccine acceptance among their parents/guardians will be measured.

Discussions:
Social distancing rules urge better adaptation of health education in the virtual environment and call for innovative approaches in engaging the public in related activities amid the logistic constraints pertaining to face-to-face communication and interaction. Our results will provide insights for continuing health education in the community during the pandemic. Utilisation of blended synchronous learning activities in education is the trend in the “new normal”. Feedbacks will be collected for improving the production and usage of the resources, thus improving the participants’ learning experience. In addition, computer literacy of the target population must be considered during the development of the educational materials.

Keywords:

Human papillomavirus, Covid-19, health education.