Mothers’ intention to vaccinate their daughter against human papillomavirus in Taiwan

Abstract

The uptake of HPV vaccination is < 10% in Taiwan and little is known about mothers’ intention to vaccinate daughters against HPV. The aims of this study were to explore mothers’ reasons for and against vaccinating their daughters against HPV. A total of 511 women were obtained from a regional hospital in central Taiwan. Descriptive analysis and multivariate logistic regression were employed. The authors found the most frequent reason given by mothers for not vaccinating their daughters was “vaccination price is too high”. Mothers with high intention to vaccinate their daughters were more likely than low-intention mothers to believe that HPV vaccination is safe and effective and to accept recommendations from others and the media. When mothers were asked whether they were willing to pay for vaccinating their daughter if HPV vaccination were not free, the percentage of high-intention mothers dropped from 88.9% to 69.8%, and the percentage of low-intention mothers dropped precipitously from 60.2% to 17.9%. Findings can be used by policy makers in Taiwan to plan appropriate activities and strategies to encourage mothers to have daughters receive the HPV vaccine.