Online educational program for parents of adolescents on human papillomavirus vaccination during COVID pandemic: A feasibility check.

ABSTRACT

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for adolescents helps in the prevention of preventable cancers caused due to HPV infection. However, many adolescents are not vaccinated due to lack of knowledge among parents. Objective: This study aimed to compare the level of knowledge and attitude of parents on HPV vaccination before and after the online educational intervention. Methods: Across-sectional pilot study was conducted among a sample of 45 parents of adolescents studying in class 7th-9th. The parents were selected two-stage simple random sampling and assigned randomly to three groups with three different methods of education - online lecture with PowerPoint presentation, online short film with discussion, and self-learning online booklet. Pre- and postintervention knowledge was assessed with a structured questionnaire and attitude with modified Likert scale administered online. Wilcoxon and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to find the statistical significance in the study. Results: Only 36% of samples stated that they have not heard about HPV vaccination, while others had heard from health-care workers, family members, friends, or television, but their knowledge was inadequate. In all the three groups, there was significant improvement in level of knowledge, but there was no significant difference in attitude. The posttest knowledge scores of parents educated with short film were significantly more than the other two interventions. Conclusion: Online educational programs were found to be effective in improving the knowledge of parents on HPV vaccination and of the three methods; short film was more effective than the other two methods.