Understanding the Intention of College Students to Receive Genital Human Papillomavirus Vaccine

Date of Completion

January 2011

Keywords

Speech Communication|Education, Health|Mass Communications|Education, Technology of

Degree

Ph.D.

Abstract

The current study was a 2x2 experimental design in which participants viewed one of four messages containing one severity message (high or low) and one vulnerability message (high or low). The results of over 500 completed online surveys were used to better understand the influences on people's intentions to receive the genital human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. The study combined elements of the protection motivation theory (PMT) with information seeking and interpersonal health communication variables to create a model that fit the data. The study found that threat appraisal is the combination of severity, vulnerability and fear, with fear having the largest effect. After analyzing the data to fit PMT an alternate model was created. This model was able to better explain the relationships in the model. ^

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