Engagement with and persuasiveness of HPV vaccination promotion videos: an examination of narrative engagement theory

ABSTRACT

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States (CDC, 2023). Although a vaccine for HPV exists, the vaccination rate in young adults is still staggeringly low. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to use Narrative Engagement Theory (NET; Miller- Day & Hecht, 2013) to examine what HPV videos young adults find most engaging and persuasive. Participants were 992 college students from a large Southwestern University who watched ten HPV videos designed to inform young adults about HPV. After each video, participants responded to questions that assessed engagement and persuasiveness and were provided space to write as much as they liked to elaborate on their answers. The results suggest that certain videos may be more effective in persuading young adults to receive the HPV vaccination.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The HPV Stories videos are owned and licensed by REAL Prevention LLC. www.realprevention.org. The videos were developed with funding from Merck & Co. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of Merck & Co or REAL Prevention.

Additional information

Funding

This publication was supported by a grant from Merck & Co. to REAL Prevention (Michael Hecht, Principal Investigator). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of Merck & Co.