An Evidence-Based Toolkit for Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Education of Female Adolescents in the School Setting

Abstract

A new vaccine to prevent human papillomavirus infection was approved in 2006 in the United States (U.S.). Uptake of the vaccine has been less than optimal (CDC, 2010c). New venues for promoting vaccine acceptance are needed (Middleman & Tung, 2010). The goal of this capstone clinical project is to create an evidence based toolkit for use by school nurses in educating female adolescents, parents, communities and other healthcare providers about the HPV vaccine. Schools nurses have daily access to young people in the target group for HPV immunization. A vital component of vaccine acceptance is education of those who are involved in making decisions for vaccine recipients (Cates et al, 2010). School nurses are in a prime position to educate due to their exposure to students and others. Students, teachers and parents value their opinions (NASN, 2010b). A Clinical Practice Model for HPV Vaccine Programming guided the development of a toolkit for school nurses to use in educating individuals and groups about the HPV vaccine. A survey was posted on a school nurse list-serve to gather recommendations for the toolkit contents. Influenced by the Health Belief Model, the toolkit was assembled to contain information in various formats to answer questions which adolescents, parents, communities and health care providers have about HPV and the vaccine. After the toolkit prototype was complete, a focus group of school nurses formatively evaluated it by examining and discussing its contents