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Abstract
Aim To co-produce with young people an educational package about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine that is tailored to increase vaccine uptake in schools and populations with lower uptake.
Introduction Persistent infection with HPV can result in cancers affecting men and especially women. From September 2019, the English-schools-based HPV vaccination programme was expanded to include young men (in addition to young women) aged 12–13 years. Some young people attending schools with lower uptake of the vaccine have unmet information needs. We hypothesise that mechanisms to address information needs and increase young people’s autonomy in consent procedures will result in higher uptake.
Methods and analysis The Medical Research Council’s framework for development and evaluation of complex interventions will inform intervention development. Recruitment of young people aged 12–15 years and key stakeholders (National Health Service commissioners, school staff, immunisation nurses and youth workers/practitioners) will be facilitated through existing links with healthcare organisations, schools and youth organisations in areas with lower uptake of the HPV vaccination programme. The proposed research will comprise three phases: (1) a rapid review of adolescent immunisation materials and preliminary qualitative interviews with young people and key stakeholders, (2) theory development and co-production of HPV vaccine communication materials through an iterative process with young people and (iii) testing delivery mechanisms and acceptability of the educational package in four schools with lower uptake.
Ethics and dissemination The University of Bristol’s Faculty of Health Sciences and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine's Research Ethics Committees provided approvals for the study. A dissemination event for young people and key stakeholders and webinar with the National Immunisation Network will be organised. The study findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at conferences. Recommendations for a future larger scale study will be made.
- public health
- education & training (see medical education & training)
- paediatric infectious disease & immunisation
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Footnotes
Contributors All authors were involved in the conception and design of the research. MH is the principal Investigator and contributes expertise in researching infectious disease control. SA contributes expertise in qualitative research and process evaluation. TC provides implementation, mixed methods and anthropology research expertise in relation to UK vaccination programmes. AF provides experience in the field of vaccine and policy development. LL provides expertise in implementing the national human papillomavirus vaccination programme. SM-J has expertise in health systems and policy evaluations, notably vaccination programmes. CT offers expertise in knowledge mobilisation. JY will support the dissemination of findings and wider implementation of the educational package as appropriate. As study manager, HF will be responsible for coordinating the study and provides links with community organisations and schools. HF wrote the first draft and all authors contributed to the final version of the manuscript.
Funding This work is supported by the Medical Research Council's Public Health Intervention Development scheme (project number: MR/T027150/1).
Competing interests None declared.
Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research. Refer to the Methods section for further details.
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.