HPV CHAT

 

Sph Hpv Chat
Communicating About
HPV Vaccination to
Adults and
Teens

The HPV CHAT project is a collaboration between University of North Texas Health Science Center and John Peter Smith (JPS) Health Network, NorTex, and the Immunization Collaboration of Tarrant County. Our goal is to increase HPV Vaccination in Tarrant County in community and clinic settings. This project is supported by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Why focus on HPV vaccination?

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination prevents SIX types of cancers! The vaccine is recommended for adolescents as young as 11-12 years old. Unfortunately, not all teens are getting the cancer prevention they need. Rates of HPV vaccine uptake are lower in Texas and in Tarrant County and may be worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Physician and healthcare provider recommendation for HPV vaccination is a critical way to improve HPV vaccination uptake.

If you are interested in learning more about HPV vaccination, click here to download a patient education handout about HPV vaccination.

What is the purpose of this initiative? What makes this important?

This initiative works to share communication tools with physicians and healthcare providers to guide HPV recommendation communications with their patients. Studies have shown that a strong recommendation can lead to HPV vaccine uptake. This project will share the strategies to recommending the HPV vaccine to parents and patients, and how best to foster an open dialogue with patients (or parents) so that they can make informed decisions. These strategies will also save time during the clinic visit!

What are the components of the training?

This project aims to provide support for physicians and healthcare providers when they provide vaccination recommendations to their patients. To complete this training, we ask you to:  

  1. Complete a pre-assessment sent to you via email (~5 minutes)
  2. Watch a brief video on evidence-based HPV vaccine recommendations with motivational interviewing tips (~24 minutes)
  3. Complete a post-assessment sent to you via email (~5 minutes)
  4.  After completing training, feel free to reference the post-training handout as a refresher. Click here to download the handout.
  5. In the pre- and post-assessment, we will ask you for your name and clinic name. We will follow-up with those who complete the training and assessments with lunches provided at their clinic and a small token of appreciation.

Thank you for your continued support of this project! You are instrumental to this HPV vaccine initiative. Your feedback is appreciated, and the outcome of the initiative will be shared with those clinics participating.

If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach out to Erika Thompson, PhD, MPH, CPH (Erika.Thompson@unthsc.edu).