Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

School

Public Health

Advisor

Peter B. Anderson

Abstract

There are more than 79 million people in the U.S. currently infected with human papillomavirus (HPV), with an estimated 14 million new infections annually. There is a lack of knowledge about the maternal socioeconomic influences and uptake of the HPV vaccine series. Infection with HPV can cause cervical cancer in women, and there are over 11,000 cervical cancer diagnoses in the U.S. responsible for 4000 deaths annually. Vaccination coverage to prevent HPV infection does not meet the Healthy People 2020 goals of an 80% vaccination rate in the U.S. In this study, associations were tested between maternal SES variables and uptake of the HPV vaccine in male and female adolescents ages 13-17 from 1,125 participants who lived within the estimation areas of New York City, New York and Houston, Texas in 2014. The health belief model was used as the theoretical framework for the study. This was a cross-sectional quantitative study using multiple logistic regression analysis of 4 maternal predictor variables. It was found that 3 of the variables (income, p > .05, education β = -.026, p > .05, and age β = -.096, p > .05) were not significantly related to uptake of the HPV vaccine series, whereas ethnicity was found to be significant (Non-Hispanic White β = .429, p = .029, Non-Hispanic Black β = .587, p = .002, and Non-Hispanic Other β = .586, p =.011). Hispanics were nearly 2 times more likely to be vaccinated than other groups. The potential social change implications of this research are that public health workers can use the findings to develop targeted interventions to increase HPV vaccination uptake and reduce the incidence of cervical cancer.

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