Parental education and text messaging reminders as effective community based tools to increase HPV vaccination rates among Mexican American children

Abstract

ObjectiveLatino populations, particularly Mexican-Americans who comprise 65% of the Latinos in the U.S., are disproportionately affected by HPV-related diseases. The HPV vaccination completion rates remain low, well below the Healthy People 2020 goal. In this study we assessed the effect of parental education and a text messaging reminder service on HPV vaccine completion rates among eligible children of Mexican American parents.Study designNonequivalent group study of Mexican parents of HPV vaccine eligible children attended the Health Window program at the Mexican Consulate in New York City, a non-clinical, trusted community setting, during 2012–2013. 69 parents received HPV education onsite, 45 of whom also received a series of text message vaccination reminders. We measured HPV vaccination completion of the youngest eligible children of Mexican parents as the main outcome.Results98% of those in the education plus text messaging group reported getting the first dose of the vaccine for their child and 87% among those in the educational group only (p = 0.11). 88% of those receiving the 1st dose in the text messaging group reported completing the three doses versus 40% in the educational group only (p = 0.004).ConclusionsParental text messaging plus education, implemented in a community based setting, was strongly associated with vaccine completion rates among vaccine-eligible Mexican American children. Although pilot in nature, the study achieved an 88% series completion rate in the children of those who received the text messages, significantly higher than current vaccination levels.

Patient safety during radiological examinations: a nationwide survey of residency training hospitals in Taiwan

“…The establishment of a high-risk reminder reporting system has shortened the delivery time of critical healthcare to patients with high-risk symptoms. 27 Text messages can be quickly sent from radiologists to clinicians upon detection of high-risk symptoms, and immediate risk management actions can be taken in response. 28 However, excessive and non-essential reporting of risk can likely compromise the efficacy of risk management in high-risk patients.…”

A retrospective and prospective look at strategies to increase adolescent HPV vaccine uptake in the United States

“…[54][55][56] Text messaging can also be combined with other intervention elements, such as in-person consultation, to increase the efficacy of the intervention. 57 In addition to simple reminders, text messages can also contain particular message features, such as educational messages about HPV and cancer, the source of the health threat, or the role of personal agency, to increase parental intention to vaccinate their children. 58,59 Text messaging may be a particularly promising area for increasing uptake of dose 1 and timely completion of the second HPV dose, especially given that the Pew Research Center reports that 73% of American adults are text messaging users, sending and receiving an average of 42 texts per dayand that report was done 6 years ago.…”

Results of a Multilevel Intervention Trial to Increase Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine Uptake among Adolescent Girls

“…Two studies directed at parents have also shown positive effects. Aragones (43) used a using a nonequivalent group design to test an education session plus text-messaging intervention compared to an education session intervention among Mexican-American parents with a child who needed the HPV vaccine. Based on parental report, there was an 88% series completion rate among those receiving the first HPV vaccine dose in the education plus text messaging group compared to 40% in the education only group (p=0.004).…”