Differences in HPV Vaccine Information Usefulness and Understanding Between Parents With and Without a Child with Special Healthcare Needs

Introduction: Youth HPV vaccination rates have yet to reach the national goal of 80 percent. One understudied population with respect to the HPV vaccine is youth with special healthcare needs. This study seeks to understand differences in HPV vaccine health information preferences and ratings of narrative content of parents with children with special healthcare needs to inform future communication efforts to improve HPV vaccine rates. Methods: A national sample of U.S. parents and caregivers (N = 512) were recruited through Qualtrics panels. Parents completed a survey about their oldest child aged 9–14. Parents who answered yes to “Does this child need or use more medical, mental health, or education services than most children who are the same age?” were classified as having an index child with special healthcare needs. The survey also measured social media use and information seeking, narrative engagement, and perceptions of usefulness and understanding of vaccine messages. Results: Fifteen percent (N = 77) of parents indicated that their index child had special healthcare needs. These parents were more likely to have a male index child, report social media as a first source of health information, and report greater understanding of HPV vaccine information presented in the stimulus materials. There were no differences for most demographics, social media use, HPV vaccine information source, and perceived usefulness of the HPV vaccine information. Conclusion: Overall, parents in this sample with and without an index child with special healthcare needs are similar in terms of how useful they found the materials. Parents with children who have special healthcare needs may have a greater preference for accessing information on social media, and may be better able to understand narrative health messages.