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Predicting Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Uptake in Young Adult Women: Comparing the Health Belief Model and Theory of Planned Behavior

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

An Erratum to this article was published on 21 June 2012

Abstract

Background

Although theories of health behavior have guided thousands of studies, relatively few studies have compared these theories against one another.

Purpose

The purpose of the current study was to compare two classic theories of health behavior—the Health Belief Model (HBM) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)—in their prediction of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination.

Methods

After watching a gain-framed, loss-framed, or control video, women (N = 739) ages 18–26 completed a survey assessing HBM and TPB constructs. HPV vaccine uptake was assessed 10 months later.

Results

Although the message framing intervention had no effect on vaccine uptake, support was observed for both the TPB and HBM. Nevertheless, the TPB consistently outperformed the HBM. Key predictors of uptake included subjective norms, self-efficacy, and vaccine cost.

Conclusions

Despite the observed advantage of the TPB, findings revealed considerable overlap between the two theories and highlighted the importance of proximal versus distal predictors of health behavior.

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Acknowledgments

We thank members of the Women’s Health research team (Khadija Andrews, Kristina Banda, Kathleen Burns, Michelle DiMarco, Sophia Harvey, Elizabeth Howe, Jessica Kraich, Lisa Langenderfer, Meghan McLeod, Mallory McRoberts, Kristina Martinez, Shella Mesa, Samantha O’Hara, Virginia Parker, Victoria Patronis, Michelle Poole, Alana Resmini, and Jennifer Rice, Stephanie Urena, and Becky Wiesenfeld) for their assistance with this project. This research was supported in part by a grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (R03-CA138069).

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

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Correspondence to Mary A. Gerend Ph.D..

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Gerend, M.A., Shepherd, J.E. Predicting Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Uptake in Young Adult Women: Comparing the Health Belief Model and Theory of Planned Behavior. ann. behav. med. 44, 171–180 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-012-9366-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-012-9366-5

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