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Abstract

Background: Although HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States, vaccination rates are still lagging among adolescents and young adults. Entertainment-education is a popular strategy for incorporating educational messages into entertainment media. With popular shows on television now integrating health messages into their narrative, there are more opportunities to influence knowledge, attitude and health behaviors. Objective: To (a) determine the effectiveness of the HPV narrative included in the “Someone You love” documentary on HPV risk perception, vaccine self-efficacy and behavioral intention for HPV vaccine uptake on college students and (b) assess the immediate impact of the documentary on HPV vaccine initiation. Methods: A dependent samples t-test was conducted to determine if differences in the scale scores for each variable existed between pre and post viewing. Scale items were measured on a 7-point Likert scale and summed for analyses. Results: Students (n=126) participated in four screenings. Participants were mostly female (76.5%), freshman (40%), Caucasian (48.3%), heterosexual (81.5%) and sexually active (74.3%). The results showed a positive and significant effect from pre- and post-test scores on Risk Perception 7.150, t (119) = 14.502, p Discussion: While the documentary shares light on the impact of HPV transmission and its deadly impact, no formal research study has been done to measure its overall impact on behavior change. After watching the documentary in our study, gains pre to posttest scores indicate that overall students in our study felt more at risk for HPV, were confident in their ability to seek out and receive the vaccine and they had a greater intention to start the HPV vaccination series. Conclusion: With more young adults streaming television on services like Netflix and watching documentary series, public health should explore using messaging in media as a tailoring strategy to improve health outcomes.

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Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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