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Tuesday, October 21, 2008: 3:00 PM
Grand Ballroom A (Hyatt Regency Penns Landing)
Purpose: Like other pediatric vaccinations, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine requires the parent to make the vaccination decision on behalf of the child. However, the HPV vaccine is delivered to adolescents who are old enough to have views and opinions of their own. This vaccination decision thus affords an opportunity to examine agreement between the surrogate decision maker and the beneficiary.
Method. We conducted a web questionnaire study of 305 11- and 12-year-old children (girls and boys) and their parents, recruited through a professional survey firm. Parents and children each answered their own section of the questionnaire after first viewing some information about HPV and the vaccine. Both parents and children rated how much they wanted the Cervarix vaccine (which protects against cervical cancer only) and the Gardasil vaccine (which protects against cervical cancer and genital warts). In addition, parents predicted how much their child wanted each vaccine, and children predicted how much their parent wanted them to be vaccinated.
Results. Preference ratings were subjected to a 2(gender of child) x 2(vaccine: Cervarix vs. Gardasil) x 2(participant: parent vs. child) x 2(response type: own preference vs. predict other) ANOVA with parent-child dyad as the unit of analysis. Not surprisingly parents of girls were more interested in the vaccine than parents of boys, and girls were more interested than boys. In addition, preference for Gardasil was higher than preference for Cervarix. Of more interest, parents had a stronger interest in the vaccine than their children did. Of most interest, both parties knew the other’s view. When children were asked whether their parent wanted them to get vaccinated, mean responses matched parents’ actual preferences very closely and predictions and preferences were well correlated (r= 0.64). Similarly, when parents were asked whether their children wanted to get vaccinated, responses matched children’s actual preferences very closely and predictions and preferences were well correlated (r= 0.69).
Conclusions: Although parents and children had different preferences for the vaccine, each party knew the other’s preference. In that sense, surrogate decision making was very accurate. Predictions agreed with actually preferences both in terms of mean levels and in terms of high correlation.
Method. We conducted a web questionnaire study of 305 11- and 12-year-old children (girls and boys) and their parents, recruited through a professional survey firm. Parents and children each answered their own section of the questionnaire after first viewing some information about HPV and the vaccine. Both parents and children rated how much they wanted the Cervarix vaccine (which protects against cervical cancer only) and the Gardasil vaccine (which protects against cervical cancer and genital warts). In addition, parents predicted how much their child wanted each vaccine, and children predicted how much their parent wanted them to be vaccinated.
Results. Preference ratings were subjected to a 2(gender of child) x 2(vaccine: Cervarix vs. Gardasil) x 2(participant: parent vs. child) x 2(response type: own preference vs. predict other) ANOVA with parent-child dyad as the unit of analysis. Not surprisingly parents of girls were more interested in the vaccine than parents of boys, and girls were more interested than boys. In addition, preference for Gardasil was higher than preference for Cervarix. Of more interest, parents had a stronger interest in the vaccine than their children did. Of most interest, both parties knew the other’s view. When children were asked whether their parent wanted them to get vaccinated, mean responses matched parents’ actual preferences very closely and predictions and preferences were well correlated (r= 0.64). Similarly, when parents were asked whether their children wanted to get vaccinated, responses matched children’s actual preferences very closely and predictions and preferences were well correlated (r= 0.69).
Conclusions: Although parents and children had different preferences for the vaccine, each party knew the other’s preference. In that sense, surrogate decision making was very accurate. Predictions agreed with actually preferences both in terms of mean levels and in terms of high correlation.