Effects of cultural cues on perceptions of HPV vaccination messages among parents and guardians of American Indian youth

Abstract

The encouragement of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is an important goal for interventions among American Indians (AIs), given the significant disparities AIs face with respect to HPV cancers. Tailoring intervention messages to the culture of message recipients has been proposed as a potentially useful intervention approach, yet cultural tailoring of HPV messages has never been tested among AIs. The objective of this research was to test the effectiveness of cultural tailoring in positively affecting two variables that have been proposed as mechanisms of tailoring effects, namely identification with the message and perceptions of message effectiveness. We conducted a between subjects randomized experiment among 300 parents of AI children. Participants saw one of three messages that differed in the extent to which the message contained cues to AI culture. Analysis of variance (anova) showed that participants identified more strongly (partial eta = 0.10) with messages that included stronger AI cultural features and thought these messages were more convincing (partial eta = 0.14) and pleasant (partial eta = 0.11) compared to messages that included weaker cultural cues. Effects on message identification and convincingness were moderated by AI identity, such that the more participants identified themselves with AI culture, the stronger the effects of the culturally-tailored messages were (R = 0.043 and 0.020 in hierarchical regression analyses). These findings suggest good potential for cultural tailoring to encourage HPV vaccination among AIs.

Variations in reason for intention not to vaccinate across time, region, and by race/ethnicity, NIS-Teen (2008–2016)

“…Prevalence ratios indicate that this reason was particularly high among those who were in the "Non-Hispanic Other" race/ethnicity category. It is possible that providers who predominantly serve patients from ethnic backgrounds other than Hispanic or black need education about strongly recommending the vaccine, or may have difficulty communicating with these patients due to language or cultural barriers [24][25][26][27][28]. It is also concerning that disparity in prevalence of the lack of knowledge as a reason to not vaccinate adolescents among racial/ethnic minorities was found.…”

Efficacy of tailored messages to improve behavioral intent to accept HPV vaccination among mothers may be moderated by sociodemographics

“…Our results should be considered in the context of other tailored messaging interventions that have not demonstrated consistent efficacy in improving vaccination intent or uptake across different sociodemographic groups ( Dempsey et al, 2019 , Donahue et al, 2018 , Yzer et al, Oct 2018 , Lee et al, 2016 , Pot et al, 2017 , Galbraith et al, 2016 ). Lack of consistent efficacy may be at least partly related to potential effect modification by sociodemographic subgroups such that salient messages are not the same for everyone.…”

Effects of culturally tailored smoking prevention and cessation messages on urban American Indian youth

“…AI identity. To assess the extent to which participants identified with AI culture, we used two items that were used in previous research ( Yzer et al, 2018 ). Participants responded to the statements “I identify with AI culture” (1 = strongly disagree , 5 = strongly agree ) and “AI culture is a big part of my daily life” (1 = strongly disagree , 5 = strongly agree ).…”

“…To probe how participants expressed their AI identity, we used a measure that asked participants which of a number of activities they engaged in ( Yzer et al, 2018 ). Using a “no” and “yes” response format, we asked: “Of these cultural activities, I do: …” followed by (1) traditional dancing, (2) traditional healing, (3) traditional arts and crafts (including beading, quillwork, sewing), (4) traditional use of tobacco for ceremonial prayer or in a spiritual way, (5) traditional storytelling, (6) tribal language learning/teaching, (7) traditional ceremonies/spirituality, (8) traditional sports/games, (9) traditional singing, (10) traditional food gathering, (11) other, and (12) none of these activities.…”