Social media engagement association with human papillomavirus and vaccine awareness and perceptions: Results from the 2017 US Health Information National Trends Survey

• Published in: Preventive medicine 2020-09, Vol.138, p.106151-106151, Article 106151
• Main Authors: Rosen, Brittany L., Wheldon, Christopher, Thompson, Erika L., Maness, Sarah, Massey, Philip M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Human papillomavirus vaccines; Knowledge; Perception; Social media
• ISSN: 0091-7435; 1096-0260
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106151

Due to social media's ability to publicize misinformation about vaccines, there is a need to study associations between social media engagement (SME) with human papillomavirus (HPV) and vaccine-related awareness and beliefs. Therefore, the study objectives were to (1) describe the SME of a nationally representative sample of US adults, and (2) determine the associations between SME and HPV-related awareness, HPV-related knowledge, HPV vaccine-related awareness, and perceived HPV vaccine efficacy. In 2019, we completed a secondary analysis of the 2017 Health Information National Trends Survey (Cycle 5.1). We created the SME index from 5 social media items. For each outcome variable, 3 models using binary and multinomial logistic regression were estimated. SME in the sample (n = 3171) was low (M = 0.9; range: 0–2). Respondents with higher SME had higher odds of HPV awareness (AOR = 1.56; 95% CI = 1.23, 1.99). Higher SME was associated with awareness of the HPV vaccine (AOR = 1.46; 95% CI = 1.16, 1.85). Respondents with higher SME had higher odds of perceiving HPV vaccine to be “not at all successful” (AOR = 2.22; 95% CI = 1.16, 4.24), “a little successful” (AOR = 1.99; 95% CI = 1.35, 2.94), “pretty successful” (AOR = 1.40; 95% CI = 1.04, 1.89), and “very successful” (AOR = 1.40; 95% CI = 1.02, 1.92) compared to those who selected “don't know” after adjusting for demographics and internet use. Our study highlights novel findings using a comprehensive SME index with a national sample providing insight to leverage existing consumer behaviors to better connect and disseminate accurate HPV information in a more strategic manner. •SME was low in the nationally representative sample population.•Higher SME is associated with being younger, female, college educated, and married.•Higher SME is associated with higher HPV awareness and HPV vaccine awareness.•Higher SME is associated with perceptions of the vaccine to prevent cancer.