Abstract

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates are low across the United States of America, despite HPV infecting millions of people every year. Clinician-focused reminder systems have shown promising results in increasing vaccination rates. The objective of the study was to explore the association between standardized school health forms and HPV vaccination rates. Researchers collected school entrance health forms, and categorized them into four groups: HPV listed on form, HPV not listed on form, HPV separated, HPV not-separated. Separation means that the form designated HPV vaccination was optional. An ANOVA test of the female vaccine completion rates grouped by form categorization identified that the means of these four groups are significantly different, which the researchers state with 95 percent confidence. Researchers were not able to prove that the four means were statistically different when analyzing male vaccine completion rates. School health entrance forms may serve as an objective reminder system for physicians to initiate conversations about HPV vaccination. States and schools may consider rewriting forms to increase HPV vaccination rates in a low-cost, effective manner. This is a novel, significant research project since it introduces a new, low-cost intervention public health officials can utilize to increase HPV vaccination rates.