JM2010 Contributed Paper: HPV and HPV Vaccine Information Resources and Education Outreach
Posted on January 29, 2010 by Amy Chatfield | 2 Comments
Posted by Debra Schneider, MLS, Librarian, Scottsdale Healthcare, Scottsdale AZ
Presenters: Annabelle Nunez, Assistant Librarian, Arizona Health Sciences Library and Martha Moore-Monroy, Clinical Lecturer, Arizona Health Sciences Center Initiative for Women’s Health, University of Arizona. Read the abstract for this paper presentation online.
When the HPV vaccine was released, it was publicized as an “important” opportunity to reduce the risk of young people contracting cervical cancer. However, the drug companies releasing the vaccine advertised it without providing sufficient consumer education about the vaccine. The result was a lot of confusion and a lack of knowledge about the vaccine. Was it safe? Did it really prevent cancer? Were there adverse effects? At what age should a parent be considering having his/her child vaccinated?
These questions and others stimulated the idea to create a partnership to provide HPV education and information in a systematic, comprehensive manner, so that families could make informed decisions about the vaccine.
Presenters Annabelle Nunez and Martha Moore-Monroy discussed the resulting partnership to provide a series of information forums on cervical cancer, human papilloma virus (HPV) and the HPV vaccine. Partners included Arizona Health Sciences Library, the Southwest Institute for Research on Women, the UA National Center of Excellence on Women’s Health , the Pima County Cervical Cancer Prevention Partnership, the Women’s Studies Advisory Council (which includes about 200 women from the Tucson Community), several other university departments, and local community organizations.
Two types of forums (which reached 105 participants) resulted: 1) an academic forum, which brought together experts with diverse perspectives and resources to discuss and share the latest medical and social science research on HPV and the resulting controversy about the vaccine and 2) a community forum which provided objective, current information and the opportunity for one-to-one discussion with health care providers. The community forum was conducted in Spanish.
Moore and Nunez emphasized several important “take-aways”:
1) Ask community members what information or services they want; sometimes, with best intentions, we create or provide services based on our perceptions of what is needed but without asking for (or listening to)
patron input.
2) Think out of the box – in this case, the presenters talked about the initial expectation that the community forum would (or “should”) be geared primarily to females but the surprisingly strong desire expressed by the community, and some of the partners, to include males. The outcome was extremely successful.
3) Resources are limited but credit is infinite – so seek out in kind contributions, pool your talent and resources to stretch them further and to avoid duplication, but generously share credit for the ideas and
implementation with all of the organizations who participate.
Posted on 1/29/10
Tags: cervical cancer > Consumer Health > contributed paper > HPV education > HPV vaccine > human papilloma virus > JM2010
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2 Responses to “JM2010 Contributed Paper: HPV and HPV Vaccine Information Resources and Education Outreach”
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January 29th, 2010 @ 2:24 pm
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January 30th, 2010 @ 4:05 am
Congratulations! You will also find the award- winning book “The HPV Vaccine Controversy: Sex, Cancer, God and Politics It is authored by Shobha S. Krishnan, M.D, Barnard college, Columbia University very useful The book is written without the influence of any pharmaceutical companies or special interest groups. It is available at amazon.com and Barnes and Noble .com but you can also get it through your local library or request them to get it for you. It educates both professionals and the public about HPV infections, the diseases they cause and the role/ controversies surrounding the new vaccines It has also won The Book of The Year 2009 Award. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA, June 17th 2009) calls the book superb and a terrific contribution to the field. Website: http://www.thehpvbook.com/ – This is exactly the information you are looking for.