Online Education and HPV Vaccination: Findings from a UNC Evaluation on the TechChange Platform
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TechChange recently supported one of the first evaluations of HPV online education, as conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which is now available online. The evaluation concludes that:
“[This] online format offers a highly adaptable and acceptable educational tool that promotes interpersonal communication with parents and preteens and practice-related changes such as reminder messages known to improve vaccine uptake.”
The human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the United States, and health care provider recommendation is a key determinant of HPV vaccination. This online training program for providers addressed vaccine guidelines, hesitancy to strongly recommend the vaccine, and reluctance to discuss HPV infection as a sexually transmitted infection.
Screenshot from Catalog Page of UNC Platform
This evaluation took place over three annual waves between 2015-2017, for a total of 113 providers from 25 practices who enrolled in an asynchronous online course to promote preteen HPV vaccination. The course was approved for 12 CME and CNE credits and was live for 4 weeks and available on demand for three additional months. Of the 61% of providers who completed an evaluation, almost all (96%) agreed the course will improve their practice.
For those interested in reading more about this study, please check out the full report: Toward Optimal Communication About HPV Vaccination for Preteens and Their Parents: Evaluation of an Online Training for Pediatric and Family Medicine Health Care Providers by Cates JR1, Diehl SJ, Fuemmeler BF, North SW, Chung RJ, Hill JF, Coyne-Beasley T (Available on NCBI).
For those interested in learning more about the TechChange platform, please do reach out to us at info@techchange.org or check out our online courses. We’ll close with a quote from Dr. Joan Cates, our partner at UNC and one of the authors of the study:
“When I was first introduced to TechChange on another online course, I couldn’t believe it. It was fun and engaging and I actually looked forward to doing the course. Our evaluation results show this platform helps with fun and engagement! And ultimately results.”
