Abstract 5256: Understanding HPV vaccine confidence and conspiracy beliefs across the US: Opportunities to increase cancer prevention through HPV vaccine education
Authors: Llavona-Ortiz Josheili Ymar , Calo William A. 
Published: April 2023

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare HPV vaccination confidence and HPV vaccination conspiracy beliefs across the US. By characterizing vaccine confidence and conspiracy beliefs by HPV vaccine initiation status and sociodemographic variables, opportunities to develop HPV vaccine education as a cancer prevention measure can be identified.

Methods: Four questions measuring vaccine confidence and seven questions measuring vaccine conspiracy beliefs were adapted from validated scales. All questions were assessed utilizing a Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Participants were a sample of US parents of adolescents ages 11-17 (n=1,109). Participants were recruited online through a market research panel maintained by Qualtrics. To define HPV vaccine initiation status, parents were asked about the number of HPV shots their child had received. Parents that reported their child receiving at least one HPV shot were categorized as initiators while parents that were unsure or reported no HPV shot were defined as non-initiators. Boxplots were created for each category (confidence and conspiracy beliefs) by child’s vaccination status and parent age group, sex, and racial/ethnic identity utilizing Stata/BE. T-tests and ANOVA models were used to assess statistical significance of overall mean scores (MS).

Results: Vaccine safety MS was lower among parents that had not initiated the HPV vaccination series for their child compared to parents that had initiated the HPV vaccination series for their children (3.69 vs 4.12, respectively). Across individual vaccine conspiracy beliefs by vaccination status, differences were observed regarding the belief that vaccine-related data is fabricated or covered up. For racial/ethnic comparisons, overall MS for vaccine confidence statements was lowest among Non-Hispanic Black (NHB) parents (MS=3.81). Concurrently, the overall MS for vaccine conspiracy beliefs was highest among NHB parents (MS=3.31). ANOVA models were statistically significant for overall confidence and conspiracy beliefs’ scores by vaccination status, parent age group, and parent racial/ethnic identity (p&lt;0.05).

Conclusions: Although parents that have initiated HPV vaccination for their children are more confident about vaccines than those that have not, conspiracy beliefs are still common among both groups. Additionally, NHB parents had lower confidence surroundings vaccines and higher report of belief in vaccine conspiracies, while trends have shown that NHB have higher overall risk of dying due to HPV-related cancers. The need to address HPV vaccination education for both vaccinated and unvaccinated communities, additionally tailored by racial/ethnic group, is essential to empower communities with knowledge they can feel certain about and increase protection against HPV-related cancers.

Citation Format: Josheili Ymar Llavona-Ortiz, William A. Calo. Understanding HPV vaccine confidence and conspiracy beliefs across the US: Opportunities to increase cancer prevention through HPV vaccine education. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 5256.