Promoting Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Through African American Beauty Salons

Summary

The investigators propose a non-randomized pilot study to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of using urban beauty salons as settings for culturally-competent health education about HPV vaccination. The educational messages will engage individual women, their peer group, their family members and community influencers in a way that is authentic and share-able. Involving women in give-and-take discussions with people they trust and respect-their hairdressers-will be essential to increasing the number of them who consider the HPV vaccine for themselves and for those they care about. The investigators believe that it is only after women who are opinion leaders among their peers begin positively supporting HPV prevention that it will gain wider acceptance.

The investigators plan to recruit eight (8) predominantly African American beauty salons in Philadelphia and train multiple stylists in each salon to act as in-salon educators and facilitators for client recruitment to sexual health education sessions. These education sessions will be run by trained health educators (also African American females) and take place during "down times" in each of the salons, on a rotating basis.

* The investigators hypothesize the ability to successfully recruit eight (8) beauty salons for participation
* The investigators hypothesize the ability to successfully train multiple stylists per site to talk to their clients about HPV and its impact on women of color
* The investigators hypothesize that knowledge and awareness of HPV, as well as intentions to vaccinate will significantly improve among women who attend a salon-based health education session

Conditions

• Human Papilloma Virus

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Health Education Session

The educational messages during the education session will engage individual women, their peer group, their family members and community influencers in a way that is authentic and share-able. Involving women in give-and-take discussions with people they trust and respect-their hairdressers-will be essential to increasing the number of them who consider the HPV vaccine for themselves and for those they care about. The investigators plan to recruit eight (8) predominantly African American beauty salons in Philadelphia and train multiple stylists in each salon to act as in-salon educators and facilitators for client recruitment to sexual health education sessions. These education sessions will be run by trained health educators (also African American females) and take place during "down times" in each of the salons, on a rotating basis. There will be two types of sessions offered, one for mothers of females ages 9-18 and one for females ages 18-26.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Thomas Jefferson University

  collaborator OTHER

• MEE Productions, Inc.

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Ivan Juzang, MBA · MEE Productions, Inc.

• Amy Leader, DrPH, MPH · Thomas Jefferson University

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2013-05-31

Primary Completion

2013-07-31

Completion

2013-07-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations