Testing a theory of planned behavior based model in predicting HPV vaccine series completion among college students
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Background: College-age students are an important population for encouraging catch-up HPV vaccine series completion given the high prevalence of HPV infection and sub-optimal vaccination rates. The purpose of this study was to test a theory of planned behavior (TPB)-based predictive model of HPV vaccine series completion. Methods: This study employed a nonexperimental, cross-sectional design with a convenience sample of college students (18-26 years) enrolled at a large Southeastern university. A logistic regression analysis was computed with the independent variables set as attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, intention, and gender; the dependent variable was HPV vaccine series completion. Results: The final sample consisted of 281 undergraduate students with 115 (40.9%) nonvaccinees (0 doses), 55 (19.6%) vaccine initiators (1 or 2 doses), and 111 (39.5%) vaccine series completers (3 doses). Nonvaccinees and vaccine initiators were combined to designate the non-series completers group. The full model was statistically significant (χ2= 120.648, df = 5, p = .000) and identified intention (B = .303, Wald χ2= 30.870, p = .000) and gender (B = 1.175, Wald χ2= 8.053, p = .005) as significant predictors. The model explained between 35.1% (Cox & Snell R2) and 47.5% (Nagelkerke R2) of the variance in series completion. Conclusions: The findings suggest that college women and those who have greater intentions to get vaccinated are most likely to complete the series. Practitioners should aim to increase college students’ intention through implementation intention strategies that promote series completion. Programs should more heavily target college men in order to increase this subpopulation’s series completion rates.
