Clinician Education
All JHU Student Health Center clinicians received a one-hour CME certified training session on HPV infection, transmission, vaccination, strategies to overcome objections to vaccination, and a thorough review of the awareness campaign materials. This CME certified slide set can be viewed within the CME Activity Tab. Interested individuals can receive a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ at no charge from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Study Procedures
This quality improvement study evaluated the effectiveness of HPV messaging directed towards eligible undergraduate student populations attending the JHU campuses. HPV immunizations for eligible undergraduate and graduate students vaccinated in the 2018-2019 academic year (August 2018-May 2019) was compared to historical vaccine administrations in this population during academic years 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. HPV immunization is a recommended, but not required vaccine for school enrollment. HPV vaccination is included as part of student vaccine records, hence the use of vaccine administrations given in the JHU Student Health Centers as the metric assessed.
Our quality improvement study demonstrated that a well-coordinated campaign with extensive awareness efforts and focused clinical interventions dramatically impacts the rate of HPV vaccinations given on college campuses. Results of this study have been published online in the Journal of American College Health Association and are available to those registering with this website.
We are continuing our research in this area, with a currently ongoing quality improvement initiative more heavily focused on the cancer-prevention message. We are also using the most effective awareness materials as identified from our first initiative, along with the addition of social media strategies. Additionally, we are taking a closer look at our male student population and potential systemic barriers to HPV vaccination that may disproportionally affect men. Data from this extension of our efforts will be available in late 2022.
Verbal Messaging
A simple, straightforward strong recommendation for the HPV vaccine has shown to increase vaccine acceptance, such as: “The HPV vaccine is important because it prevents infections that can cause genital warts or cervical, anal or oropharyngeal cancer. I strongly recommend this vaccine and so do experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other major medical organizations.”
Visual Messaging
The toolkit provided on this website offers several forms of visual messaging. These include:
- Patient brochures
- Posters (designed for bulletin boards)
- Videos
- Slide Ads
- Yard signs
- Posters (designed for shuttle buses)
Data from our completed quality improvement initiative showed that of the marketing materials used, yard signs were the most frequently noticed. The idea to create yard signs stemmed from informal conversations with student groups about ways to deliver information. The students suggested that yard signs stand out from the usual deluge of print and electronic media they consistently receive or fall in their visual fields. Our currently ongoing quality improvement initiative is also testing social media messaging.
