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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Bridget J. Kelly, MPH, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 3620 Walnut Street, R142, Philadelphia, PA 19104, 215-870-6201, bkelly@asc.upenn.edu

The first vaccine to prevent Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which causes as many as 70% of all cervical cancers, could receive FDA approval by June. A first step in designing media campaigns to promote the vaccine will be to understand what Americans know about the virus, which populations would benefit most from educational interventions and which media channels might be most effective. The Health Information National Trends Survey 2005 is a random digit dial telephone survey conducted by the National Cancer Institute. The survey included knowledge questions related to HPV (N= 2,875 women). We created a knowledge index with four of the HPV items (Cronbach's alpha=.92) and used logistic regression to predict it, controlling for education and history of HPV. Only 37% of the sample had ever heard of HPV and only 18% were aware of the link between HPV and cervical cancer. Whites were more likely to score highly than respondents of any other race (OR=1.77, 95%CI=1.12-2.79), as were respondents with more education (OR=1.23, 95% CI=1.18-1.28). Age was negatively associated with knowledge (OR=.97, 95% CI=.96-.98). Those who spent more time on the Internet knew more (OR=1.09, 95% CI= 1.01-1.18). However, those who watched more television on average were less informed (OR=.94, 95%CI=.89-.99). Respondents who read health sections of the newspaper, watched health segments of the news or noticed health information on the web were more knowledgeable about HPV (OR=1.78, 95%CI=1.45-2.19; OR=1.28, 95% CI=1.04-1.56 and OR=1.52, 95%CI=1.22-1.89, respectively). Implications for public health campaign designers are discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe current knowledge about the link between Human Papillomavirus and cervical cancer.
• Identify the socio-demographic and media-use predictors of knowledge about Human Papillomavirus.
• Discuss implications for vaccine promotion efforts.

Keywords: Cervical Cancer, Media

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No