The Carolina HPV immunization attitudes and beliefs scale (CHIAS): scale development and associations with intentions to vaccinate.

BACKGROUND

No standardized instruments, to our knowledge, exist to assess attitudes and beliefs about human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination.

METHODS

We developed the Carolina HPV Immunization Attitudes and Beliefs Scale (CHIAS), using data collected on 783 parents who had not yet vaccinated their daughters against HPV. We conducted a principal components analysis of 16 HPV vaccine attitude and belief items, assessed the scale's psychometric properties, and used linear regression to examine the relationship of CHIAS factors and parents' vaccination intentions.

RESULTS

Analyses identified 4 CHIAS factors, all of which had acceptable scale alphas and 1-year test-retest reliability. In multivariate models, higher vaccination intentions were associated with: believing HPV vaccine is effective (β = 0.06) or has less harmful effects (β = -0.47), perceiving more barriers to access (β = 0.18), and having less uncertainty about the vaccine (β = -0.23) (all P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that parent attitudes about HPV vaccine are important to their intentions to vaccinate their adolescent daughters against HPV. The CHIAS offers researchers a compact, standardized measure of important HPV vaccine attitudes and beliefs.