Aticle
ZHANG Yi, WANG Ruolin, LI Xiaolei, LUO Yuemei, DENG Lu, YIN Ziguang, YANG Junfen, TANG Jia, WU Qiong, HE Jingli, KONG Fanguo, REN Biao, LUO Chunyan, GUO Lipo, KOU Chunmei, WU Shuangsheng, GAO Aiyu, MA Jun, DONG Yanhui
Objective To analyze the willingness of school health personnel to engage and control human papillomavirus (HPV) and to explore the factors influencing student’ guardians in vaccination decision-making, and to provide scientific basis for optimizing school-based HPV prevention strategies and enhancing vaccination coverage. Methods Based on the 2024 Key Population Research Project on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases in Schools, questionnaires were conducted among 2 875 school health personnel from 13 provinces and 2 733 student guardians from four of these provinces. Descriptive analyses included t-tests for age comparisons across groups and chi-square tests for categorical variables such as gender, region, and educational level. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify influencing factors, and Cochran’s Q test was used to evaluate multiple reasons behind guardians’ decisions regarding their daughters’ HPV vaccination. Results Among school health personnel, the top three channels for acquiring HPV prevention and vaccination knowledge were district health commissions/education commissions/CDC official WeChat accounts (86.5%), schools (61.8%), and district women’s federations’ official WeChat accounts (42.1%). For parents, the primary sources were schools (68.8%), district health commissions/education commissions/CDC official WeChat accounts (54.8%), and integrated media (35.6%). A total of 88.9% of school health personnel correctly identified the optimal HPV vaccination age as “9-45 years, preferably before first sexual intercourse”, compared to 64.6% of female guardians and 57.9% of male guardians of daughters, with statistically significant differences (P<0.05). Additionally, 54.2% of school health personnel deemed HPV vaccination necessary for boys, whereas only 24.9% of male guardians held the same view. Factors significantly associated with school health personnel’s willingness to conduct HPV-related health education included being female (OR=0.439, P<0.001), residing in central China (OR=0.707, P=0.046, with western China as the reference), and awareness of the optimal vaccination age (OR=1.718, P=0.005). Among the 1 314 surveyed female guardians, child age (OR=1.757, P<0.001), residence in central China (OR=0.511, P<0.001), and knowledge of the optimal vaccination age (OR=1.646, P<0.001) were key factors influencing decisions regarding their daughters’ HPV vaccination. Among parents of girls having received the HPV vaccine (398, 30.3%), the top two reasons for vaccination were (1) HPV vaccine can prevent diseases related to HPV infection (response rate 34.6%) and (2) it can prevent cervical cancer (response rate 32.5%). The two reasons for not getting vaccinated (916, 69.7%) that had the highest prevalence and response rates were (1) children can rely on their own immunity and do not need to be vaccinated (response rate 11.6%) and (2) the HPV vaccine is ineffective in preventing cervical cancer (response rate 11.5%). Conclusions School health personnel’s willingness to prevent and control HPV is influenced by gender, region, and knowledge, while parents’ vaccination decisions are influenced by their children’s age, region, and knowledge of the vaccine. It is necessary to strengthen school health education, optimize information transmission channels, and enhance parents’ trust in the vaccine, so as to promote the transformation of HPV prevention and control from “cognitive recognition” to “behavioural internalization”, thereby increasing vaccination rates and improving HPV prevention and control strategies in schools.