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HPV and HPV Vaccine Awareness Among African Americans in the Black Belt Region of Alabama

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Abstract

This study aims to examine the factors associated with the level of HPV infection and HPV vaccine awareness among rural African Americans living in the Black Belt region of Alabama. A cross-sectional survey on cancer screening and health behaviors was conducted in the Black Belt region of Alabama. Adults (18 years or older) recruited through convenience sampling completed the self-administered survey. Binary logistic regressions were conducted to identify factors associated with HPV infection and HPV vaccine awareness among African American participants. Slightly more than half of the participants were aware of HPV (62.5%) and HPV vaccine (62.1%). Married or partnered participants had lower awareness of HPV or HPV vaccine. Family cancer history and self-reported health status were positively associated with both HPV and HPV vaccine awareness. In addition, employment was positively associated with HPV awareness, and participation in social groups was positively associated with HPV vaccine awareness. Tailored educational interventions that consider our findings might increase HPV and HPV vaccine awareness and contribute to better vaccine uptakes.

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Data Availability

Data is available as requested to the first author.

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Code is available as requested to the first author.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Endowed Academic Chair Research Fund from the University of Alabama School of Social Work awarded to the first author (Dr. Lee).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA

    Hee Yun Lee & Cho Rong Won

  2. Social Science Research Institute, College of Social Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Sunders Hall 206, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Yan Luo

  3. USA Mitchell Cancer Institute, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, 36604, USA

    Casey Daniel

  4. Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, 35294, USA

    Tamera Coyne-Beasley

Authors
  1. Hee Yun Lee
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  2. Yan Luo
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  3. Cho Rong Won
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  4. Casey Daniel
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  5. Tamera Coyne-Beasley
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Contributions

Hee Yun Lee contributed to the conceptualization, and writing and reviewing the manuscript. Yan Luo contributed to the data analysis and writing the manuscript. Cho Rong Won contributed to writing and reviewing the manuscript. Casey Daniel and Tamera Coyne-Beasley contributed to reviewing and editing the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yan Luo.

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Ethics Approval

The data was collected by the first author and the data collection was approved by the Institutional Review Board from the first author’s institution (Protocol ID:18–045-1202).

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Written consent forms were obtained by all participants.

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Consent was obtained from the participants.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Lee, H.Y., Luo, Y., Won, C.R. et al. HPV and HPV Vaccine Awareness Among African Americans in the Black Belt Region of Alabama. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 11, 808–814 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01562-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01562-0

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