What factors were associated with human papillomavirus vaccine hesitancy among parents of adolescent girls? A mixed-methods study in Southwestern Nigeria.
Vaccine safety concerns strongly associated with human papillomavirus vaccine hesitancy in parents
What factors were associated with human papillomavirus vaccine hesitancy among parents of adolescent girls? A mixed-methods study in Southwestern Nigeria.
Vaccine hesitancy contributes to the dampened public enthusiasm for vaccination in several countries, including Nigeria.
This study aimed to examine human papillomavirus vaccine hesitancy and associated factors among parents of adolescent girls in Ibadan North East Local Government Area based on the WHO 3C model.
A cross-sectional mixed-methods study was conducted, comprising four Focus Group Discussion sessions with parents and semistructured, interviewer-administered questionnaires, using a multistage sampling procedure to select 402 parents.
safety worries raise hesitancy over 8-fold, the strongest factor found
The mean age of parents was 43.7±7.4 years, 66.9% were women, 50.7% identified as Christians and 95.0% belonged to the Yoruba ethnic group.
Respondents were knowledgeable about human papillomavirus infection (51.5%) and human papillomavirus vaccine (64.7%); 61.4% had a positive attitude towards human papillomavirus vaccination.
About 27.4% were hesitant to receive the human papillomavirus vaccine.
There was a significant level of human papillomavirus vaccine hesitancy among parents of adolescent girls, and associating factors included limited knowledge about human papillomavirus and its vaccine, as well as concerns about vaccine safety, vaccine necessity and vaccine availability.
There is a need for targeted public health interventions that contribute to the prevention of human papillomavirus-related diseases.