Parents' Views on 3 Shot-Related Visits: Implications for Use of Adolescent Vaccines Like Human Papillomavirus Vaccine

Objective

Multidose adolescent-targeted vaccines, for example the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, require parents and adolescents to have repeated interactions with the physician's office. We sought to evaluate parental views on participating in frequent vaccine-related encounters and their preferences for how these encounters should ideally be implemented.

Methods

A Web-based survey about a hypothetical 3-dose adolescent vaccine was provided to a national sample of 1025 US parents of adolescents (aged 9–17 years) in 2007.

Results

Survey completion rate among parents was 69%. Most (86%) were amenable to having their adolescent visit the provider's office at least 3 times in a year for vaccination. The highest proportion of parents (47%) preferred that the first dose be administered at a comprehensive doctor visit, followed by 2 nurse “shots-only” visits. However, many parents (30%) wanted each dose to be given as part of a comprehensive visit with a physician. The most commonly cited barriers included a belief that healthy adolescents needn't be seen frequently in the doctor's office (15%) and concerns about missing school (14%).

Conclusions

Compliance with multidose adolescent vaccines like HPV could require a shift in the expected frequency of health care visits. Our results suggest that most parents are amenable to more frequent adolescent vaccine-related visits, though the feasibility of implementing these visits within the current medical system remains to be determined.

Key Words: adolescent, human papillomavirus, immunization, parent