Perceived facilitators and barriers to the uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among adolescents of Arabic-speaking mothers in NSW, Australia: A qualitative study

Faeza Netfa; Catherine King; Cristyn Davies; Harunor Rashid; Mohamed Tashani; Robert Booy; S Rachel Skinner

doi:10.1016/j.jvacx.2023.100335

Perceived facilitators and barriers to the uptake of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among adolescents of Arabic-speaking mothers in NSW, Australia: A qualitative study

Vaccine X. 2023 Jun 17:14:100335. doi: 10.1016/j.jvacx.2023.100335. eCollection 2023 Aug.

Authors

Faeza Netfa^{1

2}, Catherine King^{1

3}, Cristyn Davies^{1

2

4}, Harunor Rashid^{1

3}, Mohamed Tashani^{1

5}, Robert Booy^{1

3}, S Rachel Skinner^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Specialty of Child and Adolescent Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.
² Kids Research, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.
³ National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia.
⁴ Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁵ Faculty of Medicine, University of Tripoli, Tripoli 13275, Libya.

Abstract

Background: Australia has a large immigrant population but there is little data regarding whether human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage in adolescents varies according to parents' cultural or ethnic background. This work aims to identify facilitators and barriers to HPV vaccination of adolescents as perceived by Arabic-speaking mothers in Western Sydney, South Western Sydney and Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

Methods: A purposive sampling approach was applied to recruit mothers of adolescents from Arabic speaking backgrounds who had at least one child eligible for the HPV school-based vaccination program. Face-to-face semi-structured well as online interviews were conducted in Arabic between April 2021 and July 2021. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated into English and examined using thematic analysis.

Results: Sixteen mothers of adolescents from Arabic backgrounds described facilitators and barriers to HPV vaccination. A) Facilitators of HPV vaccination included: knowledge of HPV disease, trust in the school vaccination program, opportunistic recommendations from healthcare workers, information from friends. B) Barriers to accessing HPV vaccination included communication gaps: breakdown in school-parent information flow, lack of access to the Arabic language version of the information sheet, mother - GP communication barriers, mother-child communication gap; and health system gaps: missed opportunities for vaccination. C) Mothers' suggestions to improve HPV vaccination acceptance: to involve religious and cultural leadership, encourage engagement with GPs, and provide school-based education for parents and students.

Conclusion: Parents could benefit from assistance with HPV vaccination decision making. Interventions via schools, health professionals and religious and cultural organisations could play important roles in HPV vaccination acceptance for Arabic speaking immigrant families and in introducing their adolescent children to this vaccine.

Keywords: Arabic speaking mothers; Barriers; Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD); Culture; Facilitators; Human papillomavirus vaccine; Religious beliefs.