Abstract:

Introduction:
The rate of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among adolescent girls remains low despite of the compelling evidence on the efficacy of the vaccines in preventing HPV infection and the associated diseases. Educational programmes to improve the adolescent girls’ knowledge and facilitate the parental decisions on getting their girls vaccinated are integral to promote the rate of HPV vaccination.

Aim:
To examine the effects of a school-based health-promoting programme to promote knowledge and attitudes towards HPV vaccination among adolescent girls and their parents.

Method:
A two-arm randomised controlled trial was conducted. All secondary schools in Hong Kong with girls who were 14-17 years old were recruited. Consented schools were randomly allocated to an intervention group receiving the multidisciplinary game-based health-promoting programme or a control group receiving an online video providing general information on HPV cancer prevention. The health-promoting programme was aimed to provide easily understandable and evidence-based information about efficacy and safety of HPV vaccines. It was delivered by health professionals and trained undergraduate students, consisting of multi-modal activities including small group discussions, sharing of experiences by vaccinated adolescents and parents, and online educational computer games with quizzes. The participating adolescent girls and their parents completed questionnaires on their knowledge and attitudes towards HPV and HPV vaccination at baseline, and one month and one year after the programme respectively. Their satisfaction with the programme and suggestions for further improvement of the programme were collected after the programme.

Results:
A total of 1,017 adolescent girls and 655 parents were recruited. The students and their parents significantly increased their level of knowledge on HPV and HPV vaccines after completing the programme. There was a positive trend in their attitudes towards the vaccination and decisions to get vaccinated. Most students and parents found the programme appropriate in contents and duration. They appreciated the real-time opportunities to clarify information about HPV vaccines with the healthcare professionals. The games and videos on health experts’ illustration of the decisions against HPV vaccination were the most helpful resources rated by the girls and their parents.

Conclusion:
The health-promoting programme was helpful in improving the adolescent girls’ and their parents’ knowledge and facilitating their decisions on receiving HPV vaccination.

Keywords:

Human papillomavirus, health promotion, school-based.