Using parental education and text reminders to increase the human Papillomavirus vaccination rate in early adolescents

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the United States. HPV is transmitted through direct contact with skin and mucous membranes when having vaginal, anal, or oral sex with an infected person. There are 33,700 new cases of HPV diagnosed annually in the United States, and despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine for HPV, parents are not vaccinating their adolescents. The current U.S. vaccination rate of adolescents aged 13–15 is 58.6%. The vaccination rate of early adolescents aged 9-11 is only 32.8%, much lower than those aged 13-15. Texas is ranked 31 of 50 states, with 54.9% of adolescents aged 13–17 vaccinated. Parents report declining the vaccine because the vaccine is not required, their children are too young, or their child is not sexually active and, therefore, does not need the vaccine. This quality improvement project aimed to examine the impact of text reminders, parental pre-reading, and individualized education on improving the HPV vaccination rates in early adolescents aged 9–11 at a suburban primary care clinic in a large Texas city. A convenience sample was used to recruit patients as they arrived for their appointments. This project offered parents individualized educational information and opportunities to discuss questions with providers. Over the project’s twelve weeks, seventy-one patients (n = 71) met the inclusion criteria. The number of early adolescents initiating the vaccination series at their visit increased from 17.8% of 135 to 76.1% of 71. The results reveal that combining education and text message reminders increases HPV vaccine initiation effectively. The successful increase of vaccine initiation and completion rates will aid in cancer reduction overall health of our population and assist with reaching the current national goal of having 80% of adolescents vaccinated by 2030.