Exploring Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Decision Making Through Mother and Adolescent Dyad Interviews

Introduction: The purpose of our research was to explore how parents and their adolescent children make decisions about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, and to inform future interventions that aim to facilitate inclusive decision-making processes. Method: Purposive and snowball sampling strategies targeted parents and their adolescent children (ages = 11-13) in a large city in Australia. We conducted separate and joint semistructured interviews in 2013 with six mother-adolescent dyads (50% female adolescents and 50% male). Interviews were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Results: Factors that both facilitate and impede decision making emerged, including: background knowledge, values, historical experiences, parenting style, and opinion weights. Discussion: New interventions, strategies, and tools that are informed by these decision-making factors can be used to aid productive, mutual decision making between parents and adolescents and support adolescent autonomy and self-sufficiency in health decision making.