Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions of the Arabic-Speaking Community in Sydney, Australia, toward the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Program: A Qualitative Study
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
3.1. Participants’ Characteristics
3.1.1. Lack of Awareness and Knowledge of HPV and HPV Vaccination
“No, I didn’t hear that cancer can be caused by a virus. I heard that cancer could be hereditary, but not caused by a virus. I didn’t know that viruses can cause cancer”.KAP008
“My prior knowledge is that it causes warts, but I didn’t know that it causes sexually transmitted infections and different types of cancer, this is new information that I have just read in the information sheet you have provided to participate in this research”.KAP001
“I have no information that it affects men, all I know is that it protects the partner, which stops the transfer of the virus. Boys are vaccinated to protect the female partner by preventing the virus from being transferred”.KAP001
“Yes, I know that this cancer affects women, but I did not know that it can be caused by a virus, and how can this virus affect men?”.KAP008
“I didn’t expect that one of these vaccines was an HPV vaccine to prevent the STI. I thought that it was childhood vaccines, which means that I didn’t know that she was vaccinated with a different vaccine from her childhood”.KAP0010
3.1.2. Awareness and Understanding of the Government Vaccination Information Sheet
“The school didn’t send the information sheet. I don’t know, I didn’t know if the school send the information sheet or no”.KAP002
“The school sent the information sheet and Consent Form, but my daughter forgot to give it to me to sign on it”.KAP004
“I understand English but when I read an information for example on vaccination, I prefer it in Arabic language. Possible if I read the topic in English, I can’t understand it 100%; sure, if I read it in Arabic, it would be clearer for me”.KAP005
“The note about the vaccine was in English, which I prefer because Arabic translation sometimes is inaccurate, and I have few experiences that translated Arabic is unintelligible, so I prefer English where I understand more as you always have a feeling that there is something wrong with the translation”.KAP003
“I have received a Centrelink letter stating that my son has some outstanding vaccines that he has not taken, which resulted in suspension of Centrelink payment. If he didn’t take them Centrelink payment would have been stopped altogether. When they sent the letter, I knew that my son didn’t take the vaccine”.KAP002
3.1.3. Parents’ Preferences for Information Provision
“I wish by Arabic language or in Arabic and English language, because there are medical terms that are hard to understand it in English language, but in Arabic language I can read it and sign on it. Many times, my daughter brings letters from school, it is written in English language and I don’t know what is in it”.KAP0011
“I would like that an expert explained it at the school. It could be through the parents meeting, via face-to-face meeting, and I would like this session in the Arabic language”.KAP0012
4. The Role of Parents’ Religious Beliefs in Forming Attitudes about HPV Vaccination
“In our religion, we believe that God created human in the best manner and shape, so anything interferes with this shape, like vaccine, which is injected into our body, it is kind of belief that we have problem in our body”.KAP0014
4.1. Parents’ Attitude to Halal Vaccine
“I saw Halal at the top of the information sheet, the vaccine components are Halal, and most of the school staff members were Muslims of Arab background, the word Halal was written”.KAP001
4.2. Parents’ Religious Beliefs Concerning Sexual Relations
“We were shocked when we heard that the HPV vaccine is to protect from STI, as it is curious that vaccine protects against STI at this age”.KAP0012
4.3. Parents’ Attitudes Differed by Gender of Adolescent
“I would have vaccinated my son, but I would not give it to my daughter though as son is different to daughter, I cannot guarantee that my son will not do anything because he has the freedom to come and go, a daughter stays under the auspices of her parents, she does not come and go alone, and she knows that this thing is not part of our religion”.KAP002
“My son is different to my daughter, when he brought vaccination paper, I had a quick look at it, he didn’t say anything to me, neither did he tell me about information given to him at school. I did not ask him; my son gets shy with me and I didn’t give him any information either”.KAP001
5. Lost Opportunities to Educate Parents about HPV Vaccination during GP Visits
5.1. Inadequate Communication with GPs
5.2. Parental Views about GP, Health Provider Communication
“GP didn’t tell me anything. He did not explain about these vaccines (year 7 vaccines), maybe he assumed that I know about the vaccines and I thought he knows better about the topic, he should have explained to me”.KAP002
6. Discussion
7. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Participant Number | Age in Years | Ethnic Background | Education Level | Year of Migration to AUSTRALIA | Child’s Sex | HPV Vaccine Received | Information Sheet Received from School |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
KAP001 | 42 | Arabic-Libyan | PhD | 2007 | Girls | Yes | Yes |
KAP002 | 46 | Arabic-Lebanese | Year 7 | 2006 | Girl & Boy | Yes | No |
KAP003 | 37 | Arabic-Palestinian | University | 2014 | Boy | Yes | Yes |
KAP004 | 45 | Arabic-Iraqi | High school | 2010 | Girl | Yes | No |
KAP005 | 48 | Arabic-Libyan | University | 2001 | Girl | Yes | Yes |
KAP006 | 45 | Arabic-Djibouti | Year 8 | 1995 | Boy | Yes | Yes |
KAP007 | 42 | Arabic-Algerian | University | 1998 | Boy | Yes | Yes |
KAP008 | 46 | Arabic-Palestinian | University | 2014 | Boy | Yes | Yes |
KAP009 | 34 | Arabic-Lebanese | Year 12 | Born in Australia | Boy | Yes | Yes |
KAP0010 | 42 | Arabic-Iraqi | University | 2013 | Girl | Yes | Yes |
KAP0011 | 40 | Arabic-Libyan | Intermediate Institute (equivalent of Year 12) | 2010 | Girl &Boy | Yes | Yes |
KAP0012 | 38 | Arabic-Libyan | 1st year University | 2006 | Girl | Yes | Yes |
KAP0013 | 44 | Arabic-Iraqi | University | 1998 | Boy | Yes | Yes |
KAP0014 | 40 | Arabic-Algerian | PhD | 1996 | Girl | No | Yes |
KAP0015 | 40 | Arabic-Algerian | University | 2001 | Boy | No | Yes |
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Netfa, F.; King, C.; Davies, C.; Rashid, H.; Tashani, M.; Booy, R.; Skinner, S.R. Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions of the Arabic-Speaking Community in Sydney, Australia, toward the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Program: A Qualitative Study. Vaccines 2021, 9, 940. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9090940
Netfa F, King C, Davies C, Rashid H, Tashani M, Booy R, Skinner SR. Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions of the Arabic-Speaking Community in Sydney, Australia, toward the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Program: A Qualitative Study. Vaccines. 2021; 9(9):940. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9090940
Chicago/Turabian StyleNetfa, Faeza, Catherine King, Cristyn Davies, Harunor Rashid, Mohamed Tashani, Robert Booy, and S. Rachel Skinner. 2021. "Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceptions of the Arabic-Speaking Community in Sydney, Australia, toward the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Program: A Qualitative Study" Vaccines 9, no. 9: 940. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9090940