HPV education may increase awareness among male college athletes
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* Julia Haskins

Sharing HPV education with male college students — a high-risk group — can make them more aware of their risk. However, more work is needed to ensure that young college-age men actually receive the HPV vaccine.

In the study published in the November issue of *The Nurse Practitioner*, researchers assessed the impact of an educational intervention aimed at increasing awareness of health risks related to HPV among a group of more than 100 male college athletes.

Lead study author Tonna McCutcheon, DNP, APRN-BC, CGRN, colorectal surgery nurse practitioner at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and colleagues created a presentation that offered an overview of HPV as well as risk factors, signs and symptoms, complications, preventive measures and vaccination recommendations. Participants also received a brochure produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called “Genital HPV—The Facts.” Researchers evaluated the students’ HPV knowledge before and after the intervention with a questionnaire. Three months following the intervention, participants were asked whether they had received the HPV vaccine.

A comparison of students’ questionnaire results before and after the presentation showed a statistically significant increase in students’ HPV knowledge, intentions to receive the HPV vaccine, perceived HPV risk and confidence in their ability to obtain the HPV vaccine. There was also a decrease in participants’ perceived barriers to HPV vaccination.

Despite such gains, more than half of the college athletes who were unvaccinated before the presentation still had not received the HPV vaccine. In addition, about 40 percent of athletes who took the questionnaire erroneously answered that most people with HPV have symptoms of the infection.

McCutcheon said it was important to tailor the educational intervention to values that resonated with college-age men. For example, she said, showing the young men images of infected genitalia served as a wake-up call about the risks of HPV.

More education is needed to ensure that young men get the education and protection they need, McCutcheon said. Part of the problem lies in little outreach to men regarding HPV vaccination, as HPV vaccination has been largely geared toward young women in terms of preventing cervical cancer, she noted.

Health care professionals have a role in promoting HPV education and prevention, from providing information at health fairs to helping parents understand the risks of failing to vaccinate their children. The most influential factor in whether both male and female patients will finish the three-part HPV vaccine is a provider recommendation, McCutcheon said. As such, health care providers must work with parents to overcome any resistance to vaccination.

“We as providers need to say it’s not really about being sexually active, it’s about prevention later on,” she told The Nation’s Health.

For more information, visit [http://journals.lww.com/tnpj/Abstract/2017/11000/HPV\_awareness\_and\_vaccination\_rates\_in.6.aspx](http://journals.lww.com/tnpj/Abstract/2017/11000/HPV\_awareness\_and_vaccination_rates_in.6.aspx).

*   Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association