Factors associated with women’s attitudes towards HPV vaccination: results from a large population survey in Ireland

Introduction: HPV vaccination programmes are in place in many countries, offering the vaccine to young girls. Recently, uptake of the vaccine has sharply declined in several countries, including Ireland. Understanding the views of the general public /women is important to help develop theory-based initiatives to combat this trend.

Methods: A questionnaire was mailed to 5,553 women in 2010 when a school-based HPV vaccination programme was launched. Multiple logistic regression was used to develop models for 2 statements; (1) ‘If doctors/other health professionals recommend it, all young girls should receive the HPV vaccine;(2) ‘benefits of vaccinating girls against HPV outweigh any safety concerns’.

Results: The response rate was 62%. In multivariable analysis: women were more likely to agree with HCP recommendations if; they had requested extra health checks from their GP (OR=1.09, 95% CI 1.01-1.17); they agreed that getting vaccinated could be a positive contribution to their health (OR=2.28, 95% CI 1.58-3.27). 69% of women agreed that the benefits of vaccinating girls against HPV outweigh any safety concerns. Women were more likely to agree that benefits outweighed concerns if; they had requested extra health checks from their HCPs (OR=1.12, 95% CI 1.07-1.18);and they agreed that people should be vaccinated to prevent outbreaks.

Conclusions: The findings suggest women who have positive HPV vaccine attitudes are positively predisposed towards vaccines in general. Increased media coverage of the HPV vaccine in recent years may have impacted on women’s attitudes. We aim to repeat the survey and compare these results to the 2010 survey.