Intention of college students to receive the human papillomavirus vaccine

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to better understand what influences the intentions of college students to receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the USA and cancers related to HPV are on the rise. Design/methodology/approach - A 2x2 experimental design was used to predict the intentions. Messages were created that manipulated the level of severity and vulnerability to determine which would increase intentions to receive the HPV vaccine. Each of the 278 participants viewed a message that contained one severity message (high or low) and one vulnerability message (high or low). Findings - Regression was used to determine that elements of the protection motivation theory such as vulnerability and fear, along with norms, and information seeking explained a significant portion of the variance in intent to be vaccinated (R-2 = 0.40, F(4, 268) = 44.47, p<0.001). Norms had the most influence on intention (beta = 0.42, p<0.001), next was vulnerability (beta = 0.21, p<0.001) then fear (beta = 0.16, p = 0.002), and finally information seeking (beta = 0.10, p = 0.01). Originality/value - The current college age population did not have the opportunity to be vaccinated early and the recent (2011) recommendation that males get vaccinated makes this research valuable to those designing vaccination messages. The current study shows that norms were the most influential variable in regards to increasing intent to get vaccinated. This means that if the participant believed their friends would support or endorse their intent to get vaccinated they were more likely to say they would follow through and get vaccinated. This finding should be highlighted in any future campaign.