Print News Coverage of School‐Based Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Mandates

Abstract

BACKGROUND In 2007, legislation was proposed in 24 states and the District of Columbia for school-based HPV vaccine mandates, and mandates were enacted in Texas, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Media coverage of these events was extensive, and media messages both reflected and contributed to controversy surrounding these legislative activities. Messages communicated through the media are an important influence on adolescent and parent understanding of school-based vaccine mandates. METHODS We conducted structured text analysis of newspaper coverage, including quantitative analysis of 169 articles published in mandate jurisdictions from 2005-2009, and qualitative analysis of 63 articles from 2007. Our structured analysis identified topics, key stakeholders and sources, tone, and the presence of conflict. Qualitative thematic analysis identified key messages and issues. RESULTS Media coverage was often incomplete, providing little context about cervical cancer or screening. Skepticism and autonomy concerns were common. Messages reflected conflict and distrust of government activities, which could negatively impact this and other youth-focused public health initiatives. CONCLUSIONS If school health professionals are aware of the potential issues raised in media coverage of school-based health mandates, they will be more able to convey appropriate health education messages, and promote informed decision-making by parents and students.

Innovations in HPV Vaccination and Roles of Nurses in Cervical Cancer Prevention

“…Nurses can recognize some factors in women and teenage girls, such as improvement of the perceived benefit perceptions, can recognize socioeconomic, ethnicity factors, history of health status and mother's screening history, can influence the knowledge levels to change health behaviors, can apply the screening program by implementing different methods, such as the Pap test technique, acetic acid, etc. (Ardahan and Temel, 2011;WHO, 2013;Casciotti et al, 2014;Kothari, 2014;Paul and Fabio, 2014).…”

“…The role of nurses is important for primary prevention strategies and for multiple health preventive roles that assist parents and adolescents in making informed decisions about new preventive health recommendations against risky sexual behaviors in the society, such as safe sexual life, monogamy and condom use, development and popularization of cost-effective HPV vaccinations and prevention of smoking. Furthermore, nurses promote messages for media use about new health products and policies that stress areas of consensus rather than controversy, reduce health inequalities, promote social inclusion and raise educational standards (Kaya, 2009;Brabin et al, 2011;Casciotti et al, 2014).…”

The male role in cervical cancer prevention and transmission: Representation of subject positions in South African press reports (1998-2014)

“…Through press reports, information about a medical cure or a new medical technology is relayed from the scientific or policy sphere to the lay public. Furthermore, news media are aligned with agenda-setting (Giles, 2003), which is further reinforced when news items are both local and international (Casciotti et al, 2014). Therefore, health information in the media cannot be separated from the political and social contexts in which it arises (Abdelmutti & Hoffman-Goetz, 2009).…”

“…Gardasil is approved for use in both males and females between the ages of 9 and 26 (Shi et al, 2007;Balachandran, 2011). Cervarix is approved for males and females between 13 and 26 years (Casciotti et al, 2014). Both vaccines require three dosages to be effective (Dunne & Markowitz, 2006).…”

Human Papillomavirus Infection and Vaccination Policies in the American South

“…Consequently, such behaviors may be underrepresented. In the same vein, previous research has reported that responses to ACASI collecting sexual behavior data are generally more accurate compared to face-to-face interviews (Ghanem, Hutton, Zenilman, Zimba, & Erbelding, 2005;Phillips, Gomez, Boily, & Garnett, 2010). NHANES collects sexual behavior data using ACASI thereby reducing social desirability bias in this study.…”