Researchers Aim to Evaluate Implementation Strategies for an Intervention to Increase HPV Vaccination Rates Among Latino/a Adolescents in Federally Qualified Health Centers
A five-year, federally-funded research project now at UTHealth Houston will investigate implementation strategies for an intervention to increase Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). The project aims to address critically low HPV vaccination rates among Latino/a adolescents in Texas.
Despite the availability and efficacy of HPV vaccines in reducing cancer rates, HPV is still associated with more than 46,000 new cancer cases in the U.S. each year. Texas, in particular, has some of the lowest HPV Vaccination rates in the country, ranking 48th out of all 50 states. These rates are even worse among Latino/a adolescents than other groups, demonstrating a need for targeted interventions to improve vaccination uptake in this demographic.
Led by Principal Investigator Daisy Y. Morales-Campos, PhD, “Investigating facilitator-driven, multi-level implementation strategies in FQHCs to improve provider recommendation and HPV vaccination rates among Latino/a adolescents” is intended to address this need. Researchers will implement a multi-level intervention designed to enhance HPV vaccine uptake among Latino/a adolescents in nine clinic locations across three Texas FQHCs: Community Health Network, Project Vida Health Center, and Spring Branch Community Health Center.
“We’ve made sure to involve clinic leadership in every stage of the project,” said Dr. Morales-Campos. “We know that by engaging clinic leaders in the development and implementation process, they’ll be more likely to keep the intervention going in the long-term, improving sustainability.”
The intervention includes facilitator-driven strategies at both the provider and practice levels, including provider education, clinical practice plans, technical assistance, assessment and feedback, and the training of an immunization navigator at each clinic. The educational components are based on the CDC’s “You Are the Key” trainings, and will be administered using a hybrid approach combining face-to-face and remote training. Booster trainings will also be offered on an ongoing basis to address potential staff turnover, with asynchronous learning options made available through recorded training sessions.
In this first year of the project, Dr. Morales-Campos and her research team are working with the participating FQHCs on data management plans. By looking at each clinic’s electronic health records, along with a number of other factors, the team will produce baseline assessments they can use to create tailored quality improvement plans for each clinic. This data will also allow the team to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation strategies over the course of the project.
This project is funded by National Cancer Institute Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences.