Insights on HPV vaccination in the United States from mothers’ comments on Facebook posts in a randomized trial

Abstract

In the United States, parents' health beliefs affect HPV vaccination decisions for children. Our team acquired insights into mothers' health beliefs from their reactions and comments to posts on HPV vaccination in a social media adolescent health campaign in a randomized trial (n = 881 mothers; 63.1% reported daughters had 1+ doses of the HPV vaccine) evaluating communication intended to reduce daughters' indoor tanning. A total of 10 HPV vaccination messages in didactic (n = 7) and narrative (n = 3) formats were posted on vaccination need, uptake, and effectiveness and stories of young women who died from cervical cancer and a mother's decision to vaccinate her daughters. These posts received 28 reactions (like, love, and sad buttons; mean = 2.8 per post) and 80 comments (mean = 8.0 per post). More comments were favorable (n = 43) than unfavorable (n = 34). Data was not collected on views for posts. The most common favorable comment reported that daughters were vaccinated (n = 31). Unfavorable comments cited safety concerns, lack of physician support, distrust of pro-vaccine sources, and increased sexual activity of daughters. Mothers posting unfavorable (18.2%) as opposed to favorable (78.6%) comments or not commenting (64.0%) were less likely to have had their daughters vaccinated (chi-square = 22.27, p < 0.001). Favorable comments often did not state reasons for vaccinating. Concerns about lack of vaccine safety remain a barrier. Mothers may express distrust in pro-vaccine sources to reduce discomfort with not vaccinating daughters to reduce their risk for HPV infection. Many mothers who remained silent had vaccinated daughters, which suggests they did not resisit HPV vaccination.

Social media and vaccine hesitancy: new updates for the era of COVID-19 and globalized infectious diseases

“…[17][18][19][20][21][22] They allow for real-time communication amongst quasipeer networks, allowing users to actively participate in public discourse. 21,23 In contrast to traditional media, content posted need not undergo editorial curation nor scientific vetting, and may represent a more complex mixture of evidence and personal opinion. 24,25 Further, users frequently maintain anonymity, allowing individuals to express their views unadulterated.…”

“…Social media users may represent a skewed population sample with baseline misperceptions regarding the benefits and side effects of vaccination whilst simultaneously lacking familiarity with the consequences of vaccine-preventable disease. 23 Moreover, when evaluating the risks and benefits of vaccination in general, the risks may be overestimated and may seem more immediate and tangible as compared to the more abstract potential benefits of disease prevention. 2,21,54,55 Furthermore, social media may propagate misinformation by employing vivid narratives and powerful imagery.…”

“…2,21 Users' baseline personal values and biases prior to their exposure to social media content, such as ethno-cultural, religious, or political beliefs, may modulate their response to such posts. 23,60,61 Helge et al conducted an study in which 400 participants with differing opinions regarding the flu vaccination were organized into 3-link experimental diffusion chains. 62 This study assessed how information is conveyed, perceived, and altered between links and found that participants would largely alter messages to align with their baseline attitude.…”

Are We Ready for the Arrival of the New COVID-19 Vaccinations? Great Promises and Unknown Challenges Still to Come

“…In fact, some evidence underlined that social media contents might influence vaccine acceptance [ 31 ]. In a study on parents’ health beliefs, parents who were Facebook users appeared as being disproportionately oriented towards vaccine hesitancy because of emotional and narrative contents [ 32 ].…”

There’s Much Yet to be Done: Diverse Perspectives on HPV Vaccination

“…Included in this special issue are several papers addressing social media and online information about HPV immunization. These include a systematic review examining how social media may affect attitudes about, and uptake of, HPV vaccine, 14 as well as several research papers reporting on analyses of HPV-vaccine-related posts on Instagram, 15 Facebook, 16 and Twitter. 17,18 Two additional articles examine the readability of online information 19 and present a content analysis of online continuing medical education about HPV vaccination, respectively.…”