Abstract PO-027: A Puerto Rico free of preventable diseases: An online education intervention for school staff during the COVID-19 pandemic era in Puerto Rico

• Published in: Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention biomarkers & prevention, 2022-01, Vol.31 (1_Supplement), p.PO-027-PO-027
• Main Authors: Medina-Laabes, Diana T., Coalition, VOCES PR, PR, JAC-HPV PIVAC, Cruz, Omayra Salgado, Abreu, Roxana Soto, Diaz Miranda, Olga L., Sánchez Aracil, Marta M., Colón-López, Vivian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1055-9965; 1538-7755
• DOI: 10.1158/1538-7755.DISP21-PO-027

Introduction: Puerto Rico Libre de Enfermedades Prevenibles (Puerto Rico Free of Preventable Diseases) was an online, community-based initiative consisting of eight educational training programs regarding school entry vaccines, including HPV vaccine as the most recent requirement. The Community Advisory Board of the HPV-PIVac study (CAB-PIVac) developed this activity in response to barriers identified on school personnel by the HPV-PIVac study: lack of knowledge about the HPV vaccine and its school entry requirement and need for training. In February 2020, CAB-PIVac members collected data through a self-administrated survey to identify potential topics. After several meetings, members identified the topics and resources for these webinar series. Our purpose is to present how the integration of community members into an ongoing research study allowed rapid response to developing an educative initiative to impact school staff concerning preventable diseases and the HPV vaccine. Methods: Eight webinars in four weeks were transmitted in-live through the Zoom platform from June 26 to July 17, 2020. They were on-demand until July 24, 2020. Theme per week: World without vaccine: COVID-19; Teenager vaccine in School; Future free of HPV-related cancer; and Legal aspects of vaccination for the school-entry. The participants received via email an evaluation form to assess the impact of these webinars. Using data from the registration form, we collected the following participants' characteristics: sex, age, education sector, and role in the school. We performed a thematic analysis collecting all the messages posted in the Q & A section of each webinar to identify the topics in which the participants had doubts or more interest. Results: A unique participation of 954 participants were registered, and the range of involvement on the education webinars was 588 to 780 participants. Based on the type of education, 28.8% were private, and 70.9% were from public education. Most of the participants were females (89.6%) and with an average age of 42 years (range: 21 -74). Of the participants who reported their role at their schools (n=648), 31.4% were school nurses, followed by the school director (22.7%). Twelve percent of the participants were teachers. The evaluation was satisfactory (99.7%) considering the tools offered and the clear information presented. The thematic analysis results showed that the two topics discussed in the Q &A section were the immunization registry