Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is a safe and effective way to prevent HPV-related cancer. However, vaccine uptake is much too low, and information indicates that only about half of those not vaccinated have specifically chosen not to be. In Canada, the HPV vaccine is provided mainly through school programs. School programs work for most people because they make getting the vaccine easy. Still, there are some youth who miss school vaccination because they are absent from school, or their parents forget to return the consent form. In Alberta, those who miss getting the vaccine in school have to arrange vaccination through community clinics. Unfortunately, those who miss school vaccination are often those with the fewest social and economic resources, and frequently have competing demands that make it hard to make and attend another appointment. This study aims to find out whether the healthcare system is missing other important opportunities to provide the HPV vaccine to youth, by answering three questions: Who is not vaccinated through the school program? Where else do they access health or social care? Which of these other settings could provide the HPV vaccine? We will use government health data to learn how many youth are not fully vaccinated for HPV, and identify other health and social service locations these youth go to. We will consult with youth service experts to identify services locations that are not captured in the healthcare data. Using these findings, we will consult with vaccine program experts to decide on locations that are most suited for offering the HPV vaccine. Finally, we will try to understand any reasons that offering the HPV vaccine in those places may or may not work, based on interviews with people who work in those settings, and parents and/or youth who visit those places. By doing this study, we hope to find ways to improve HPV vaccine uptake by making vaccination easy for youth, and efficient for the healthcare system.